CENTRE
for
REFORMATION
and
RENAISSANCE
I STUDIES 1
VICTORIA
UNIVERSITY
R N
Coryat s Crudities
In Two Volumes
Volume I
GLASGOW
PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY
ROBERT MACLEHOSE & COMPANY LTD. FOR
JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, PUBLISHERS
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
MACMILLAN AND CO. LTD. LONDON
THE MACMILLAN CO. NEW YORK
SIMPKIN, HAMILTON AND CO. LONDON
MACMILLAN AND BOWES CAMBRIDGE
DOUGLAS AND FOULIS EDINBURGH
MCMV
One thousand copies of this book have been printed
for sale in Great Britain and Ireland, of which one
hundred copies are on hand-made paper
Coryat s Crudities
Hastily gobled up in five Moneths travells in
France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia commonly called
the Orisons country, Helvetia alias Switzerland,
some parts of high Germany and the Nether
lands ; Newly digested in the hungry aire of
Odcombe in the County of Somerset, and now
dispersed to the nourishment of the travelling
Members of this Kingdome
By
THOMAS CORYAT
VOLUME I
Glasgow
James MacLehose and Sons
Publishers to the University
MCMV
REF. & REN.
THE TABLE
PAGE
Publishers Note, . . . . . . i*
An Explication of the Emblemes of the Frontis-
pice, ...... xv
The Epistle Dedicatorie to Henry Prince of
Wales, ...... i
The Epistle to the Reader,
A Character of the Authour, . .16
A Characterisme Acrostick, .... 19
An Introduction to the Ensuing Verses, . . 20
Panegyricke Verses upon the Author and his
Booke, ....... 22
An Oration made by Hermannus Kirchnerus in
Praise of Travel, . . . . .122
Mr. Laurence Whitaker s Elogie of the Booke, . 149
Observations of France, . . . .152
Observations of Amiens, . . . . .161
Observations of Paris, . . . . .170
THE TABLE
PAGE
Observations of Fountaine Beleau, . . . 187
Observations of the City of Nevers called in
Latin Niverna, . . . . .198
Observations of Lyons, .... 203
Observations of Savoy, . . . . .215
Observations of Italy, ..... 227
Observations of Turin, ..... 229
Observations of Milan, ..... 240
Observations of Cremona, ..... 257
Observations of Mantua, ..... 262
Observations of Padua, . . . . .270
The Number of Miles betwixt Odcombe in Somer
setshire and Venice, . . . .301
Observations of the Most Glorious, Peerlesse and
Mayden Citie of Venice, . . .301
VI
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Facsimile of the Engraved Title Page, 1 6 1 1 , . x
Facsimile of the Printed Title Page, 1611,. . \x
Crest of Henry Prince of Wales, ... 8
Coryat s Shoes, in which he had walked from
Venice to London, . . . . .113
II Signior Tomaso Odcombiano. Margarita Emil-
iana bella Cortesana di Venetia, . . 408
Vll
PUBLISHERS NOTE
THOMAS CORYAT, son of the Rev. George Coryat, Rector
of Odcombe, was born in the Parsonage house at
Odcombe in Somersetshire about 1577. In the begin
ning of the year 1596 he became a commoner of
Gloucester Hall, Oxford, where continuing about three
years he attained, by the help of a great memory, to
some competency in logic, but more by far in the
Greek tongue, and in humane learning. Afterwards he
was taken home for a time, then went to London and
was received into the family of Henry, Prince of
Wales. 1 On the I4th May 1608 he sailed from Dover
on the journey of which an account is given in the
4 Crudities. On his return home he proposed to publish
his book of travels, but finding it difficult to induce any
bookseller to undertake its publication he applied to
many of the eminent men of his day to write pane-
gyricke verses upon the Authour and his booke. By
the help of Prince Henry, who seems to have had a
certain liking for him, Coryat s Crudities was published
in 1 6 1 1 with the Panegyricke Verses prefixed as an
Introduction ; the volume being printed by W. S.
(William Stansby). Two appendixes, Coryats Crambe,
1 Anthony a Wood^thenae Oxonienses, Ed. Bliss, 181 5, Vol. II. Col. 208.
ix
PUBLISHERS NOTE
or his Colwort twise sodden and now served in with
other Macaronicke dishes as the second course to his
Crudities, printed by William Stansby, and The Od-
combian Banquet dished foorth by T. the Coriat and
served in by a number of Noble Wits in prayse of his
Crudities and Crambe too. Imprinted for T. Thorp,
also appeared in 1 6 1 1 .
In 1612 Coryat set out again, this time for the East,
but before doing so he went to Odcombe and hung
up in the parish church the shoes in which he had
walked from Venice. These shoes, of which an illus
tration is given on page 113, were still hanging in
Odcombe Church at the beginning of the eighteenth
century. Starting on his Eastern journey on the 2Oth
October 1612 he sailed to Zante, where he arrived on
the i jth January 1613 ; he then proceeded to Troy and
on to Constantinople. From Constantinople he appears
to have proceeded to Smyrna, from Smyrna to Alexandria
and thence to Cairo. Returning to Alexandria he sailed
to Joppa and from there went to Jerusalem. From
Jerusalem he went to Sidon and sailed to Scanderoon
or Alexandretta ; he then went to Aleppo and joined
a caravan for Persia, passing through Ecbatana, Kazvin,
and Ispahan where he remained two months. From
Ispahan he journeyed with a caravan to Lahore, meeting
on the frontier of India Sir Robert Sherley, who was
travelling from f the court of the Mogul to the King
of Persia s court. From Lahore Coryat proceeded to
Agra and thence to Ajmere, where he remained for
eight months. At Ajmere he learned Persian, Turkish,
and Arabian, and became so proficient in the Indostan
or more vulgar Language, that, as the Rev. Edward
PUBLISHERS NOTE
Terry 1 tells us, there was a woman, a Landress, belong
ing to my Lord Embassador s house, who had such a
freedome and liberty of speech that she would sometimes
scould, brawl, and rail from the Sun-rising to Sun-set ;
one day he undertook her in her own language, and
by eight of the clock in the morning so silenced her,
that she had not one word more to speak. During
his stay at Ajmere he sent home a number of letters,
which were published in 1616 with the title Thomas
Coriate Traveller for the English Wits : Greeting.
From the Court of the Great Mogul, Resident at the
Towne of Asmere in Easterne India. From Ajmere
he went to Surat, but there being over-kindly used
by some of the English who gave him Sack, which
they had brought from England, he calling for it as
soon as he first heard of it and crying, " Sack,
Sack, Is there such thing as Sack ? I pray give me
some Sack " and drinking of it, though, I conceive,
moderately (for he was a very temperate man) it in
creased his Flux which he had then upon him ; and
this caused him within a few daies after his very
tedious and troublesome Travels (for he went most on
foot) at this place to come to his Journies end ; for
here he overtook Death in the Month of December,
1617. and was buried (as aforesaid) under a little
Monument, like one of those are usually made in our
Church yards. 2
It is greatly to be regretted that no complete journal
1 A Voyage to East India observed by Edward Terry (then chaplain to
the Right Honorable Sr Thomas Row Knight, Lord Ambassadour to the
Great Mogol). London. 1655.
x
PUBLISHERS NOTE
of Coryat s Eastern travels is in existence. From his
Letters from Ajmere and from the few fragments of
his Journal printed in Purchas His Pilgrimes it is
clear that had Coryat lived to publish his complete
journal it would have made a worthy sequel to the
Crudities.
This edition of the Crudities is a reprint of the
original edition of 1 6 1 1 , but side-notes have been in
serted, and references to the pages of the original text
have been given in the margin. The foot-notes are
Coryat s. The letters i, j, u and v have been altered
to conform to modern usage, and ordinary printers errors,
both of spelling and punctuation, have been corrected.
Coryat s original index was much condensed, and it has
been replaced by a fuller one in this Edition.
GLASGOW,
February, 1905.
THE FIRST VOLUME
OF
Coryat s Crudities
Containing his Observations of France, Amiens,
Paris, Fountaine Beleau, Nevers, Lyons,
Savoy, Italy, Turin, Milan, Cremona,
Mantua, Padua and the Most
Glorious, Peerlesse and
Mayden Citie
of Venice
xin
CERTAINE
Opening and Drawing Distiches,
TO BE APPLYED
as mollifying Cataplasmes to the Tumors, Car-
nosities, or difficult Pimples, full of matter,
appearing in the Authors front, conflated of
Stiptike and Glutinous Vapours arising out of
the Crudities : The heads whereof are par
ticularly pricked and pointed out by
letters for the Readers better
understanding.
First, th Author here glutteth Sea, Haddocke and
Whiting
With spuing, and after the world with his writing.
Or,
Yee Haddocks twixt Dover and Calais,* speake Greeke;
For Tom fild your mawes with it in Whitsun J weeke.
T
B
I Hough our Author for s Venerie felt no whips smart,
Yet see here he rides in a Picardie Cart.
* Imperat. J Viz. anno 1608, when he beganne to travel].
xv
AN EXPLICATION OF THE
C
THis Horse pictur d showes, that out *Tatter-de-
mallian
Did ride the French Hackneyes, and lye with th Italian.
Or,
Our Author in France rode on Horse without stirrop,
And in Italic bathed himselfe in their syrrop.
Or,
His love to strange horses he sorteth out prettilie,
He rides them in France, and lies with them in Italic.
D
HE hath crost 1 Sea and 2 Land, now the cloudes
(saith the text)
Of th Ayre 3 he is climbing ; ware Tom, 4 Fire is next.
E
HEre to his Land-Friggat he s ferried by Charon,
He bords her ; a service a hot and a rare one.
Or,
Here to a Tutch-hole he s row d by his Gondelier,
That fires his Linstocke, and empties his Bandolier.
F
HEre his Friggat shootes egs at him empty of
Chickens,
Because shee had made his purse empty of Chicquins.
Or,
Here shee pelts him with egges, he saith, of Rose water,
But trust him not Reader, twas some other matter.
* A word that in the Helvetian tongue signifieth a ragged traveller.
1234 The f our e Elements.
J That is, the beauty of her countenance, and sweet smatches of
her lips did enflame his tongue with a divine & fierye enthusiasme,
and emptyed the Bandolier of his conceipts, & inventions, for that
time.
xvi
EMBLEMES OF THE FRONTISPICE
G
IN vaine here doth Coryate pipe and dispute,
His wench was, Jewes will not be caught with his
flute.
Or,
Thy Cortizan clipt thee, ware Tom, I advise thee,
And flie from the Jewes, lest they circumcise thee.
H
H
E longs for sweet grapes, but going to steale em,
He findeth soure graspes and gripes from a Dutch
*Skelum.
Or,
Here is the combat our Author may glorie at,
With Halberd the Boore lays on, and with Greeke
Coryat.
H
Ere is his Trophee victoriously dight
With case, shoes, and stockings, and lice put to
flight.
Or,
See here his poore case, his shoes clowted with cunning,
His stockings strong-smelling, and lice away running.
Or,
See our louse-bitten Travellers ragged device,
Of case, shoes, and stockings, and Canniball lice.
Or,
This Gibbet the false case and hose doth requite,
That harbour d the Vermine that their Maister did bite.
*A Rascall in Dutch
xvii
T
AN EXPLICATION OF THE
K
IHis should be his picture, tis rather his Embleme,
For by (K) it notes him, though t little J re
semble him.
Or,
This picture unlike him, showes hee s not come home as
He went, but chang d, and turn d travelling Thomas.
Or,
This picture unlike him, showes hee s not himselfe,
But chang d since he proved a Travelling Elfe.
Or,
Know Reader, the notes and contents of this booke,
Are not to be ghessed by th Authors carv d looke.
THese be the three countries with their Cornu-copia,
That make him as famous, as Moore his Utopia.
Or,
Here France gives him scabs, Venice a hot Sunne,
And Germanic spewes on him out of her Tunne.
M
THe horse he bestrid till he mounted his chaire
Doth kindly bestride him at Bergamo faire.
Or,
He courted a wench, but pennance for his game 6
He doth by lying with horses at Bergamo.
As being the first letter of his name in Greeke.
J But you differ in opinion (Mr. Laurence) from all my other
friendes that have compared together the counterfaited and the
living figure.
xvni
EMBLEMES OF THE FRONTISPICE
Or,
The Italian horse more then French his love feeles,
For he rode on the one, and lay at th others heeles.
M
N
Ost Politicke Thomas, now thou art no * fol I see,
For wanting no money, thou beggest in Policie.
LAURENCE WHITAKER.
Here follow certaine other Verses, as Charmes
to unlocke the mystery of the Crudities.
A
Ere, like Arion, our Coryate doth draw
All sorts of Fish with Musicke of his maw.
B
Ere, not up Holdborne, but downe a steepe hill,
Hee s carried twixt Montrell and Abbeville.
H
H
A
Horse here is sadled, but no Tom him to backe,
It should rather have bene Tom that a horse did
lack.
D
HEre up the Alpes (not so plaine as to Dunstable)
Hee s carried like a Cripple, from Constable to
Constable.
E
APunke here pelts him with egs. How so ?
For he did but kisse her, and so let her go.
R
Eligiously here he bids, row from the stewes,
He will expiate this sinne with converting the Jewes.
* The French word for a Foole.
xix
EMBLEMES OF THE FRONTISPICE
_
A
Nd there, while he gives the zealous Bravado,
A Rabbin confutes him with the Bastinado.
H
Ere, by a Boore too, hee s like to be beaten,
For Grapes he had gather d before they were eaten.
I
Ld Hat here, torne Hose, with Shoes full of gravell,
And louse-dropping Case, are the Armes of his
travell.
K
HEre, finer then comming from his Punke you him
see,
*F. shews what he was, K. what he will bee.
H
O
H
A
B
L
Ere France, and Italy both to him shed
Their homes, and Germany pukes on his head.
M
Nd here he disdain d not, in a forraine land,
To lie at Livory, while the Horses did stand.
N
Ut here, neither trusting his hands, nor his legs,
Beeing in feare to be rob d, he most learnedly begs.
BEN JONSON.
*Not meaning by F. and K. as the vulgar may peevishly and wit
tingly mistake, but that he was then comming from his Courtesan a
Freshman, and now having seen their fashions, and written a description
of them, he will shortly be reputed a knowing, proper, and well traveld
scholer, as by his starch d beard and printed ruffe may be as properly
insinuated.
xx
THT(EE
CRVDE VEINES
ARE PRESENTED IN
This B o o K E following (beficles the fore-
faid C a v D i T i E s) no lefle flowing in the
body of the B o o K E , then the CRVDITIES
tbtwfelucs 3 two 0/Rhetorickeand one
Of P O H S I E.
That is co fay, a mod elegant Oration, firft written
in the Latine tongue byHERMANsvs KIRCUNERVS, a
Ciuill Lawyer , Oratour^ Cjefare&n Poet , andprofetfor of Eh-
qtience and Antiquities in the famous Vniucrfitie
of M A R p v R G in the Langrauiat of Hafsia , in
praife of Trauell in general).
Now diftilledintoEnglifh Spirit through the ODCOMBIAN
Limbecke. This precedetb the C R VD 1 T 1 E S. Another 4fo com-
pofed by the Author of the former, in praife ofTraucll of Germanic
in particular, fttbltnted and brought ottsr the Helm fin
the Stillitorie of the-faid Trauclling TH o M A s:
This about the Center or NaufKofthc
CRUDITIES.
Then in the Poftcrne of them looke , and thoit fhalt find the
Poftbume Poems of the Authors Father , comming at neerc
Kinfcmen to the worke,being next of blood to the
Booke , and yonger brothers to the
Author himielfe.
LONDON,
Trintedby W. S. dnno Domini
16 n.
TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE
Henry, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall
and Rothsay, Earle of Chester, Knight
of the most noble Order of the
Garter, &c.
Hough I am very confidently perswaded The Epistle
(most gracious Prince the Orient Pearle
of the Christian world) that I shall expose
my selfe to the severe censure at the least,
if not the scandalous calumniations of
divers carping criticks, for presuming to
dedicate to your Highnesse the greene
fruits of my short travels, especially since I am no schollar,
but a man altogether unworthy to be dignified with so
laudable a title : yet there are some few reasons that have
emboldned and encouraged me to present these my silly
Observations unto your Highnesse, whereof these two
are the chiefest. First, that if your Highnesse will deigne
to protect them with your favourable and gracious
Patronage, as it were with the seven-fold shield of Ajax,
or the segis of Pallas (a favour that I most humbly crave
at your Highnesse hands) against the envious cavillations
of such criticall Momi as are wont to traduce the labours
of other men ; it may perhaps yeeld some little encourage
ment to many noble and generose yong Gallants that
follow your Highnesse Court, and give attendance upon
your Peerlesse person, to travell into forraine countries,
and inrich themselves partly with the observations, and
partly with the languages of outlandish regions, the
principall meanes (in my poore opinion) to grace and
c.c. i A
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle adorne those courtly Gentlemen, whose noble parentage,
Deduatone. m g enuous education, and vertuous conversation have
made worthy to be admitted into your Highnesse Court :
seeing thereby they will be made fit to doe your Highnesse
and their Country the better service when opportunity
shall require. For the description of many beautifull
Cities, magnificent Palaces, and other memorable matters
that I have observed in my travels, may infuse (I hope)
a desire to them to travel into transmarine nations, and
to garnish their understanding with the experience of
other countries. Secondly, because amongst other things
that I exhibite in this my Journall to your Princelie view,
that most glorious, renowned, and Virgin Citie of Venice,
the Queene of the Christian world, that Diamond set in
the ring of the Adriatique gulfe, and the most resplendent
mirrour of Europe, I have more particularly described,
then it hath been ever done before in our English tongue.
The description of which famous Citie (were it done with
such a curious and elegant stile as it doth deserve) I dare
boldly say is a subject worthy for the greatest Monarch
in the world to reade over. But for mine owne part I am
no schollar (as I have already said) and therefore unable
to delineate & paint out the singular beauty thereof in
her genuine colours with such an exquisite pensill as an
eloquent historiographer ought to doe. Notwithstanding
those Observations that I gathered thereof during the time
of my aboade there (which was about the space of sixe
weekes) I have written though not as eloquently as a
learned traveller would have done, yet as faithfully and
truly as any man whatsoever ; Being often holpen both
by the discourse of learned men, and certaine Latin
bookes that I found in Italic, wherehence (I confesse) I
derived many principall notes, with which I have beautified
the description of many other Italian Cities.
But me thinks I seeme to heare some Momus objecting
unto me now I speake thus of Venice, that this is Crambe
bis cocta, as it is in the proverbe. For we have the
historic of Venice (he will perhaps say) already translated
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE
out of Italian into English. Therefore what neede we The Epistle
more descriptions of that Citie? Truly I confesse that
Cardinall Contarens Commonwealth of Venice hath beene
so elegantly translated into English, that any judicious
Reader may by the reading thereof much instruct himselfe
with the forme of the Venetian governement. But that
booke reporteth not halfe so many remarkable matters as
mine doth (absit dicto invidia) of the antiquities and
monuments of that famous Citie, together with the
description of Palaces, Churches, the Piazza of S. Marke,
which is one of the most beautifull places (I beleeve) that
ever was built in any Citie whatsoever of the whole
world, and other memorable things of no meane import
ance. Howbeit were this true that the historie of Venice
hath been more then once divulged in our mother tongue,
yet I hope your Highnesse will not miscensure me for
communicating to my country new notes of this noble
City, with a corollarie of Observations that (I am sure)
were never before printed in England, seeing (according
to the old speech) ^/? KCU Tpis TO. KaXa.
Howsoever, if the curious Reader that is wholy
addicted unto novelties, will not so well accept my notes
of Venice, for that the historie of the Venetian common
wealth hath beene already printed in our language : never-
thelesse I conceive some hope that the descriptions of other
Cities which I survayed in divers countries in my travels,
as in France, Italic, Switzerland, and some parts of high
Germanic, will yeeld more matter of newes unto him,
because none of these Cities have beene described in our
language that I could ever heare of. And whereas I
have written more copiously of the Italian, Helveticall,
and German Cities, then of the French, that is to be
attributed partly to my Industrie (whatsoever the same
was) which I used more in Italic, Switzerland, and
Germany by many degrees then in France ; being often
disswaded by some of my fellow travellers from gathering
any Observations at all till I came into Italic : and partly
to the helpes of bookes which I found in Italic and
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle Germanic, wherewith I have something inlarged the
Dedicating, descriptions of those Cities. For seeing I made very
short aboade in divers faire Italian Cities, as Cremona,
Mantua, &c. (where I desired to have observed al the
principal! matters thereof) and thereby was barred of
opportunity to note such things at large as were most
memorable ; I held it expedient to borrow some few
notes from a certaine Latin booke printed in Italie, rather
then to write so briefly of the same, as the shortnesse of
time would not otherwise permit me. The like I did
in Germanic, being sometimes beholding to Munster
for some speciall matter which neither by my owne
Observations, nor by the discourse of learned men I
could attaine unto, especially about the institution of the
Bishopricks of certaine Cities through the which I
passed.
I meant to have digressed into the praise of the
excellency of travell into forraine countries, the more to
stirre up yong Gentlemen and every good spirit that
favours learning, to so worthy an exercise ; had I not
prevented my selfe by translating those two elegant
Orations out of Latin into English, that were made by
that learned German Hermannus Kirchnerus of Marpurg ;
which I have inserted into my Booke ; the one in com
mendation of travell in generall, the other of Germanie
in particular ; which are seasoned with such savourie
Attick conceits, and adorned with those flosculi & pig-
menta eloquentiae, that I may fitly apply unto them that
prety Distiche of the Poet Lucilius :
Quam lepide lexeis compostae, ut tesserulae, omnes
Arte pavimento, atque emblemate vermiculato.
And surely for my owne part I will say I never read any
orations in all my life composed with a more terse and
polished stile (Tullies only excepted) though I have in
my daies perused some part of the Orations of learned
Melancthon, the Phoenix of Germanie, Antonie Muretus,
my owne Rhetoricall countryman Robert Turner, &c.
4
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE
Therefore since these two Orations do yeeld stronger The Epistle
motives, and more forceable arguments to animate the
learned to travel! into outlandish regions, then my poore
invention can affoord : I have thought fit to turne them
into our mother tongue, according to my simple skill,
and to present them also to your Highnesse, together with
the Observations of my travels ; both because I hope
they will be very delectable to every Reader that loveth
to heare of forraine affaires, and also for that they agree
with the argument of my booke.
As for these my Observations in forraine countries, I
was so farre from presuming to dedicate them to your
Highnesse before the consummation of my future travels,
that I resolved rather to conceale them from the world,
and to bury them for a time in oblivion, if the importunity
of some of my deare friends had not prevailed with me
for divulging the same : whereof one amongst the rest,
namely that right worshipfull Gentleman my most sincere
and entire friend, M. Lionel Cranfield was the originall
and principall animator of me ; and another of my
friends, even learned M. Laurence Whitaker, that elegant
Linguist and worthy traveller, now Secretarie to my
illustrious Mecoenas Sir Edward Philips, Master of
the Rolles, hath often urged unto me that proverbiall
verse :
IloXXa /AeTa^u Tre Xet KvXi/co? /cat ^etXeo9 axpov*
By which he signified that many sinister accidents might
happen unto me betwixt the time of my next going out
of England, and my arrivall againe in my country ; and
so consequently my friends and country might be deprived
of the fruits of my past travels, and of those to come : by
these and such like perswasions of my friends I was
animated to publish the Observations of my travels much
sooner then I thought to have done, and to addresse them
to your excellent Highnesse ; not that I hold them
worthy to undergoe your Highnesse censure, seeing many
* Many things doe often slip twixt cup and lip.
5
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle o f them deserve rather ad salsamantarios amandari, as
Dedtcatorte. i earnec j Adrian Turnebus* writeth of his Adversaria, and
(as Horace saith :)
Deferri in vicum vendentem thus & odores,
Et piper, & quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis.H
But because they shall be an introduction (if your High-
nesse will vouchsafe to Patronize them with your Princely
protection) to farre more memorable matters that I
determine by God s gracious indulgence to observe
hereafter in most of the famous Cities and Princes Courts
of Germanic and Italic : as also in Constantinople, with
divers ancient Cities of Greece, and the holy Land, as
Jerusalem, Jericho, Samaria, and other sacred places
mentioned in the Scriptures, and celebrated for the miracles
done therein by our blessed Saviour. Of which Cities
(if God shall grant me a prosperous issue to my designe-
ments) I hope to write after a more particular manner
then any of our English travellers have done before me.
Wherefore most humbly beseeching your Highnesse to
pardon my presumption, I recommend your Highnesse
to the mercifull clientele of him whose throne is the
heaven, whose foote-stoole is the earth.
By him
That travelleth no lesse in all humble and
dutifull observance to your Highnesse
then he did to Venice and the
parts above mentioned,
Your Highnesse poore Observer,
THOMAS CORYATE,
Peregrine of Odcombe.
* In Epistola ad Hen. Memium. \\Horat. z lib. Epist.
The Epistle to the Reader.
Aving lately considered in my serious The Epistle to
meditations (candid Reader) the un- thc
measurable abundance of bookes of all
artes, sciences, and arguments whatsoever
that are printed in this learned age where
in we now breathe, in so much that me
thinks we want rather readers for bookes
than bookes for readers ; my thoughts beganne to be
much distracted like those of ^neas, of whom Virgil
speaketh thus :
Atque anirnum, nunc hue celerem, nunc dividit illuc,
In partesque rapit varias, perque omnia versat.*
Yea I was plunged in an Ocean of doubts, whether it were
best that my Observations gathered in forraine countries
should be continually confined within the bounds of my
poore studie, and so at length squalere situ, & cum tineis
ac blattis rixari ; or be presented to the view of my
country, being (I confesse) by so much the more doubtfull
to evulge the same, by how much the more I am no
schollar, but only a superficiall smatterer in learning, and
therefore most unwilling to incurre the censure of such
severe Aristarches as are wont o/3eA)e<i/ and with their
censorious rods doe use to chastise the lucubrations of
most kinde of writers. But at length post varias cogita-
tionum fluctuationes, by the counsell of certaine of my
deare friendes I put on a constant resolution, and
determined to expose the abortive fruits of my travels
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle to to the sight of the world (after they had for the space of
the Reader.
two w h o i e y eares l ur ked in a kinde of Cimmerian
darkenesse) which if they cannot endure, but will be
dazeled with the least glimpse thereof, I wish the same
of them that elegant Angelus Politianus * did of his
Latin translation of Homer, even that I might aut
Thetidi aut Veneris largiri marito.
Since then I have thus farre ventured with them, I
will take occasion to speake a little of the thing which
begat and produced these my observations, even of travell
into forraine countries, whereby I may the better encourage
Gentlemen and lovers of travell to undertake journeys
beyond the seas. Of all the pleasures in the world travell
is (in my opinion) the sweetest and most delightfull. For
what can be more pleasant then to see passing variety of
beautifull Cities, Kings and Princes Courts, gorgeous
Palaces, impregnable Castles and Fortresses, Towers
piercing in a manner up to the cloudes, fertill territories
replenished with a very Cornucopia of all manner of
commodities as it were with the home of Amalthea,
tending both to pleasure and profit, that the heart of man
can wish for : flourishing Universities (whereof only
Germany yeeldeth no lesse than three and twenty)
furnished with store of learned men of all faculties, by
whose conversation a learned traveller may much infbrme
and augment his knowledge. What a singular and
incomparable comfort is it to conferre with those learned
men in forraine Universities and noble Cities, whose
excellent workes we reade in our private studies at home,
as with Isaac Casaubonus the pearle of Paris : Paulus
^Emylius in Padua : Rodolphus Hospinianus, Gasper
Waserus, Henricus Bullingerus in Zurich : Amandus
Polanus, Joannes Jacobus Gryneus in Basil : Janus
Gruterus, David Pareus, Dionysius Gothofredus at
Heidelberg : Joannes Piscator at Herborne : Bonaventura
Vulcanius at Leyden ? Most of whom it was my good
hap not only to see in my travels, but also to my
* In Epistola ad Jacobum Cardinalem Papiensem.
8
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER
unspeakable solace to enjoy very copious and fruitfull The Epistle to
discourse with them. Againe, what a contentment is it er
to a holy and religious Christian to visit the monuments
and tombes of some of the ancient Saints and Fathers of
the primitive Church ; as of S. Augustine in Pavie, S.
Ambrose in Milan ? &c. Also the epenria and ruines of
the houses wherein those famous men lived, as Cicero,
Varro, Virgil, Livie, &c. that are to this day shewed in
sundry places of Italic, strike no small impression in the
heart of an observative traveller. Likewise the places
wherein divers famous battels have beene fought, so much
celebrated partly by the ancient Roman historiographers,
and partly by other neotericke authors (many of which I
exactly observed in my short voyage) when they are
survayed by a curious traveller, doe seeme to present to the
eyes of his mind a certaine Idea of the bloudy skirmishes
themselves. Yea such is the exuberancie and superfluity
of these exoticke pleasures, that for my owne part I will
most truly affirme, I reaped more entire and sweet comfort
in five moneths travels of those seven countries mentioned
in the front of my booke, then I did all the dayes of my
life before in England, which contayned two and thirty
yeares. Moreover the knowledge of forraine languages
(which the shortnesse of time did not affoord me) acquired
by industrious travell, yeeldeth an ornament beyond all
comparison the most precious and excellent that can be
incident to a Gentleman. For if the learning of two
languages be commended by Ovid, who said :
Nee levis ingenuas pectus coluisse per artes
Cura sit, & linguas edidicisse duas.
Much more praise doth he deserve that by travelling in
France, Italic, Spaine, Alemannie, and the Netherlands,
doth learne the five languages of those noble countries,
which being added to his owne mother tongue and the
Latin, do answere the number of the seven liberall sciences.
These certainly, and more, have been learned by famous
travellers, as by Gulielmus Postellus a Frenchman of
9
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle to excellent learning, who spake twelve languages. Julius
the Reader. XS3Lf Scaliger that incomparable schollar, nine. Joseph
Scaliger that died not long since in Leyden a University
of Holland, spake ten. Caspar Waserus that ornament
of Zurich, my kind friend, speaketh eight. These are
meanes that adde much more grace and honour to an
ingenuous Gentleman, then he can purchase unto himselfe
by all the exterior gifts of fortune. For though gentility
be of it selfe gracious, yet it is much more excellent when
it is adorned with the experience of forraine countries.
Even as a gold ringe of it selfe is faire and beautifull, but
much more resplendent when it is decked with a rich
Diamond or some other precious stone. I will also
illustrate this matter by some famous examples that I
have noted in my poore readings. The Patriarch Jacob
travelled in his old age with his children out of the land
of Canaan into ^Egypt. Very memorable is the travell
of the Queene of the South mentioned in the holy
Scripture, who travelled out of her country of Saba (which
is a part of Arabia) to Hierusalem, to the end to heare
Salomons wisedome. Pherecydes the Master of Pytha
goras was a traveller. Also Pythagoras himselfe travelled
out of his country of Samos into Italic. Polybius that
excellent historiographer travelled into many countries
with Scipio Africanus whom he instructed in learning.
Apollonius Tyaneus that famous Pythagorean Philo
sopher, whose life Philostratus hath described in eight
bookes, travelled for learning sake into .ZEgypt, Persia,
India, Greece. Dionysius Areopagita an Athenian borne
into ^Egypt also, and divers other countries. Likewise
Plinie the Naturalist, and Cornelius Tacitus the historio
grapher spent some time in travell. The like did S.
Hierome one of the foure Doctors of the west Church.
The Emperour Adrian travelled over most of the
Provinces of the Roman Empire, and for a time made
his residence in Athens for learning of knowledge. Him
did the Emperour Antoninus Bassianus Caracalla imitate
in the like action, though not with so good successe.
10
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER
Also that eloquent orator Hermannus Kirchnerus in his The Epistle to
two orations of travell which I have rudely translated the
out of Latin into English, and inserted into my observa
tions, mentioneth these notable examples of travelling,
namely Euclide, Plato, Aristotle, Anacharsis, Zamolxis,
Lycurgus, Hippocrates, Cicero, Galen, and Dioscorides.
Moreover Vincentius Gonzaga Duke of Mantua then
travelled in divers parts of Germanic when I was abroade.
All which from the first to the last (Jacob only excepted,
who travelled for other causes) aymed at this maine scope
in their travels, as it were their Helice and Cynosura, to
purchase experience and wisdome ; that they might be
the better able to benefit their country and commonweale.
In which they differed much from many of our English
travellers, to whom I may very truly apply that memorable
speech of ^Eschines, in his Oration against Timarchus,
ou rov rpOTTOv a\\d rov TOTTOV novov /j.eTri\\aav* But I Will
proceede no further in this point, seeing the foresaid
elegant Orations of Kirchnerus doe more artificially paint
out the fruits of travell in their naturall colours then I am
able to doe.
But now I will descend to speake something of my
own travels. It hath bene oftentimes objected unto me
since my comming home, by certaine Gentlemen of
eminent note, and as it were laid in my dish as a choaking
peare, that for the short time that I was abroade I
observed more solid matters then any English man did
in the like space this long time. For I copied out more
inscriptions and epitaphes (said a certaine Knight that
shall passe namelesse) that are written upon solid peeces
of stone, then any judicious traveller would have done
in many yeares. For which cause he branded me with
the note of a tombe-stone traveller. Whereas it had
beene much more laudable (said he) to have observed the
governement of common-weales, and affaires of state. I
answere him, that because I am a private man and no
*This is answerable unto that in Horace. Ccelum non animum mutant
qui trans mare currunt.
ii
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle to statist, matters of policie are impertinent unto me. For
the Reader. j observe that memO rable distich :
Vive tibi, quantumque potes praelustria vita,
Saevum praelustri fulmen ab arce venit.
Besides I have observed that in some places it is dangerous
to prie very curiously into State matters, as divers travellers
have observed by their deare experience ; a most tragical
example whereof I heard to have beene shewed in the
City of Strasbourg not long before my arrivall there.
Moreover I hope that every gentle Reader that shall with
a milde censure peruse my observations, will say it was
impossible for me in the space of five months to observe
all these matters in descriptions of Cities that I have
handled ; and politique affaires also. But because this
objection shall not justly take hold upon me, that I am
a tombestone traveller, if God shall grant me happy suc-
cesse in my next journey, I will so farre wade into a few
matters of policie for the better satisfaction of the Reader,
as I may with security of my life attaine unto. Surely
I doe not a little wonder that the observing of inscriptions
and epitaphes should be objected unto me by way of
disgrace. For who that * TQV e -y/ce^aXoi/ ei> rot? /cpora ^ot? (to
use that sentence of Demosthenes) KOI /J.YI ev rats Trrepvais
KaraTreTraTwevov (popel, will deeme it a vanity to write out
those sweet elegancies that many epitaphes doe present to
the reader, whereof some few for example sake I will briefly
recite. The epitaph of Pope Lucius the third, which I
have mentioned in my notes of Verona, is so pretty, that I
thinke it cannot but affect every learned Reader.
Luca dedit lucem tibi Luci, Pontificatum
Ostia, Papatum Roma, Verona mori.
lino Verona dedit tibi vere vivere, Roma
Exilium, curas Ostia, Luca mori.
Also this witty epitaph that was given me by a learned
* In Oratione de Haloneso, that is, who that hath his wit in his
head, and not in his heeles, &c.
12
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER
man in my travels, was written upon the tombe of a The Epistle to
Grammarian in the City of Gaunt. the Reader
Grammaticam scivi, multos docuique per annos,
Declinare tamen non potui tumulum.
Who will not applaud that upon learned Joannes Picus
Earle of Mirandula in the City of Florence?
Joannes jacet hie Mirandula, caetera norunt
Et Tagus, & Ganges, forsan & Antipodes.
And that upon Rodolphus Agricola in Heidelberg,
composed by famous Hermolaus Barbarus, as I have
mentioned in my notes of that City.
Invida clauserunt hoc marmore fata Rodolphum
Agricolam, Frisii spemque decusque soli.
Scilicet hoc uno meruit Germania laudis
Quicquid habet Latium, Graecia quicquid habet.
Let them therefore reprehend me as long as they list for
the collection of those epitaphes and inscriptions in my
booke. For mine owne part I am so farre from thinking
my selfe worthy of taxation for the same, that I rather
feare I have ministred just cause of reprehension to the
learned for omitting so many notable epitaphes as I might
have found in divers famous Cities of my travels,
especially Paris, Milan, and Padua.
I suppose that divers which will reade my observations,
will blame me for that I have not translated the Latin
verses of Julius Caesar Scaliger, which I have prefixed
before the description of certaine of the nobler Cities,
and the epitaphes and inscriptions, into English. Because
many men that cannot understand them in Latin, would
take some pleasure to reade them in English. To this I
answere, that if I should have turned them into English,
many of them would have lost part of their grace by my
improper translation. Because the Latin tongue hath
certaine proper and peculiar elegancies, which when they
are translated into another language, seeme to leese
13
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Epistle to something of that genuina venustas that it hath in her
the Reader. O wne originall no otherwise then certaine plants that being
removed from their naturall soile to a strange place, will
not prosper as well as they did before. Therefore I
thought good to labour but little in this businesse of trans
lation, saving only in those two memorable things which I
have translated for the benefit of the unlearned Reader,
the one, S. Bernards Epistle to the Bishop of Spira. The
other the historic of the three Kings of Colen. Also
whereas I understand that some have objected against me,
that I deserve to be taxed for reporting certaine things
which I received only by tradition and report of other
men, not by my owne certaine experience ; I would have
them know, that I am not the first that hath grounded
much of his matter upon the speeches of other men ;
For I have observed that Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus,
Justin, Quintus Curtius, and divers other ancient his
torians, as well amongst the Greeks as Latines, have
done the like, as they may easily observe that peruse
their workes. But I am sure I doe very seldome depend
upon the report of others, and when I trust to the
tradition of them, they are men of such learning from
whom I derive those matters, that I thinke a man neede
not doubt to alleage them for authentike authours. As
in Zurich learned Hospinian told me that their City was
founded in the time of Abraham. And the like notes
I received from other learned men, whose testimonies I
approve as much as the written authority of grave
authours.
It remaineth now that I am to make one instant request
unto thee (curteous Reader) and with the same will shut
up my Epistle : Even to desire thee whatsoever thou art
(if thou shouldest intend to translate my booke into Latin
in my absence, when I shall be abroade in my next
travels) manum de tabula tollere. Intermeddle not I
intreate thee (gentle Reader) with my booke, neither
thrust thy sickle into my harvest, except thou shalt
certainly understand by credible report that I have
14
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER
miscarried in my voyage. For if God shall grant me The Epistle to
happy successe in my next travels, and a safe arrivall in the Rea "
my country, I determine (Oeov StSovroi) to translate both
these and my future observations into Latin for the benefit
not only of my owne country, but also of those countries
where I have already travelled, and hereafter resolve to
travell. Though truly I doe ingenuously confesse my
Latin stile is so barren and penurious, that it were much
fitter for another man to pertorme it then my selfe. As
for these Observations which I now exhibite unto thy
gentle censure, take them I pray thee in good part till
I present better unto thee after my next travels, consider
ing that it is not in my power to yeeld unto thee such
exquisite notes of travell as great schollars gather in the
course of their travels, since I neither professe my selfe
a schollar, nor acknowledge myselfe worthy to be ranked
amongst schollars of meane learning, but only wish to be
accounted a poore well-wilier of the Muses. Notwith
standing though my beggarly learning can not ayme at
such weighty matters as are fit to be searched for by a
learned traveller, yet I will promise thee (if thou wilt
only winke at some light matters inserted into these my
Observations) to impart many such memorable things
unto thee after the end of my next journey, as are often
times omitted by travellers of that learning, that I am
not worthy to loose their shoe-lachet, yea such as doe as
farre excel! me,
Ante alios quantum Pegasus ibat equos.
Therefore in the meane time joyne with me in thy best
wishes for happy successe in my future travels ; and so I
commend thee to him whom I beseech to blesse thee at
home, and me abroade.
Thy benevolent itinerating friend,
T. C.
The Odcombian Legge-stretcher.
15
THE CHARACTER
OF THE
Famous Odcombian, or rather Polyptopian
THOMAS the CORYATE
Traveller, and Gentleman Author of these
Quinque-mestriall Crudities
Done by a charitable Friend, that thinks it
necessary, by this time, you should
understand the Maker, as well
as the worke
Ben Jonson s T TE is an Engine, wholly consisting of extremes,
Character of J_ J_ a Head, Fingers, and Toes. For what his
industrious Toes have trod, his ready Fingers have
written, his subtle head dictating. He was set a going
for Venice the fourteenth of May, anno 1608. and
returned home (of himselfe) the third of October
following, being wound up for five moneths, or
thereabouts : his paises two for one. Since, by vertue
of those weights he hath bene conveniently able to visite
Town and Countrie, Fayres and Mercats, to all places,
and all societies a Spectacle gratefull, above that of
Niniveh, or the Citie of Norwich ; and he is now become
the better Motion, by having this his Booke his Inter
preter : which yet hath exprest his purse more then him,
16
A CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOUR
as we the rest of his Commenders have don, so unmerci- Ben Jonsotfs
fully charging the Presse with his prayse. But to that c ^ ctei J
r- i u * 11 i TT -n i / u- u the Author.
Gale, he sets up all sayles. He will beare paper (which
is cloth) enough. He hath ever since the first designe
of printing hereof, bene a Deliciis to the Court ; but
served there in his owne cloathes, and at his owne costs :
where he hath not bene costive of acquaintance to any,
from the Palatine to the Plebeian ; which popularity of
his (it is thought by some of his Odcombians) may hurt
him. But he free from all other Symptomes of aspiring,
will easily outcary that ; it being a motlie and no perfect
ambition : the rather, because when he should have been
taken up for the place (though he hastily prevented it
with a tender of himselfe) hee conditioned to have no
office of charge or neerenesse cast upon him, as a
Remora of his future travaile ; for to that he is
irrecoverably addicted. The word Travaile affectes him
in a Waine-oxe, or a Packe-horse. A Carrier will carry
him from any company that hath not been abroad,
because he is a Species of a Traveller. But a Dutch-
Post doth ravish him. The mere superscription of a
letter from Zurich sets him up like a top : Basil or
Heidelberg makes him spinne. And at seeing the word
Frankford, or Venice, though but on the title of a Booke,
he is readie to breake doublet, cracke elbowes, and
overflowe the roome with his murmure. Hee is a mad
Greeke, no lesse than a merry : and will buy his * Egges,
his Puddings, his Ginger-bread, yea cobble his shoes in
the Atticke dialect : and would make it a matter of
Conscience to speake other, were he trusted alone in a
roome with an Andiron of state. The greatest Politick
that advances into Paules he will quit, to go talke with
the Grecian that begs there ; such is his humility ; and
doth grieve inwardly he was not borne that countryman
for that purpose. You shall perceive a veine or
* I meane when he travelled. A thing, that I know he scorned
to do since he came home.
Not to beg, but to talke Greeke the better with the natural Grecians.
C. C. 17 B
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Ben Jonson s thread of Greeke runne through his whole discourse,
and another of Latine, but that is the courser. He is
a great and bold Carpenter of words, or (to expresse him
in one like his owne) a Logodsedale : which voyce, when
he heares, tis doubtfull whether he will more love at the
first, or envy after, that it was not his owne. All his
Phrase is the same with his manners and haviour, such
as if they were studied to make Mourners merry : but
the body of his discourse able to breake Impostumes,
remove the stone, open the passage from the Bladder,
and undoe the very knots of the Gout ; to cure even
where Physick hath turned her back, and Nature hung
downe her head for shame ; being not only the Antidote
to resist sadnes, but the Preservative to keepe you in
mirth, a life and a day. A man might undo the Colledge
that would practise with onely him. And there is no
man but to enjoy his company, would neglect any thing
but businesse. It is thought he lives more by letting*
out of ayre, then drawing in ; and feared, his belly wil
exhibite a Bill in Chauncery against his Mouth for talking
away his meales. He is alwaies Tongue-Major of the
company, and if ever the perpetuall motion be to be
hoped for, it is from thence. He will aske, How you
doe? Where you have bene? How is it? If yow have
travelled? How yow like his booke? with, what newes?
and be guilty of a thousand such curteous impertinences
in an howre, rather then want the humanity of vexing
you. To conclude this ample Traveller in some bounds
you shall best know him by this : he is frequent at all sorts
of free tables, where though he might sit as a Guest, hee
will rather be served in as a Dish, and is loth to have
any thing of himselfe kept cold against the next day.
To give the Non-ultra of him in a word, he is so
substantive an Author as will stand by himselfe without
the neede of his Booke to bee joyned with him.
Here endeth the Character, attended with a
Characterisme Acrostich.
* I meane in the fore parts, not the hinder.
18
A CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOUR
To the Right Noble Tom, Tell-Troth, of his Ben
Travailes, The Coryate of Odcombe, and his A <* c
_. > the Author.
Booke now going to travell.
T rie and trust Roger, was the word, but now
H onest Tom Tell-Troth puts down Roger, How?
O f travell he discourseth so at large,
M arry he sets it out at his owne charge ;
A nd therein (which is worth his valour too)
S hews he dares more then Paules Church-yard durst do.
C ome forth thou bonnie bouncing booke then, daughter
O f Tom of Odcombe that odde Joviall Author,
R ather his sonne I should have cal d thee, why?
Y es thou wert borne out of his travelling thigh
A s well as from his braines, and claimest thereby
T o be his Bacchus as his Palks : bee
E ver his thighes Male then, and his braines Shee.
Ben. Jonson.
An Introduction to the ensuing Verses.
An Introduc
tion to the
Panegyric
Verses.
Here present unto thee (gentle Reader)
the encomiastick and panegyrick Verses
of some of the worthyest spirits of this
Kingdome, composed by persons of
eminent quality and marke, as well for
dignity as excellence of wit ; such as
have vouchsafed to descend so low as to
dignifie and illustrate my lucubrations without any
demerit of theirs* (I do ingenuously confesse) with the
singular fruits of their elegant inventions, which they
have expressed in the best and most learned languages of
the world, two only excepted, which are the f Welch
and Irish. But in that I exhibite unto thy view such a
great multitude of Verses as no booke whatsoever printed
in England these hundred yeares, had the like written
in praise thereof ; ascribe it not I intreate thee to any
ambitious humour of me, as that I should crave to obtrude
so many to the world in praise of my booke. For I
can assure thee I sollicited not halfe those worthy Wights
for these verses that I now divulge ; a great part of them
being sent unto me voluntarily from divers of my friends,
from whom I expected no such courtesie. At last when
I saw the multitude of them to increase to so great a
number, I resolved to put above a thousand of them into
an Index expurgatorius, and to detain them from the
presse. Whereupon the Princes Highnesse (who hath
* Mistake me not Reader. I referre this word to the word
Lucubrations. j Ironia.
20
AN INTRODUCTION
most graciously deigned to be the * Hyperaspist and ^ n
Moecenas of my booke) understanding that I meant to p anes r - lc
suppresse so many, gave me a strict and expresse com- v eri es.
mandement to print all those verses which I had read to
his Highnesse. Since then that inevitable necessity hath
been imposed upon me, I have here communicated that
copious rhapsodie of poems to the world that my learned
friends have bountifully bestowed upon me ; wherein
many of them are disposed to glance at me with their
free and mery jests, for which I desire thee (courteous
Reader) to suspend thy censure of me till thou hast read
over my whole booke.
* You shall understand the meaning of this word in a marginal
note upon the verses imediately ensuing.
[Panegyricke Verses
21
PANEGTRICKE FERSES UPON THE
AUTHOR AND HIS BOOKS.
Incipit
|Ordings, full well I hope you know
I never shot in Phoebus bow,
Or clim d Parnassus hill :
Yet must I needes in dogrell rime
/- & r
Crave your sweet patience for a time,
Full sore against my will.
I am not now to tell a tale
Of George a Greene, or Jacke a Vale,
Or yet of Chittiface :
But I must be the Chanti-cleere
Of one that is withouten peere,
A home replete with grace.
For he at Odcombe was y-bore,
Whereas the fates were heard to score
The fortunes of his birth :
Goe pretty dandy-prat to schoole
(Said they) thou shalt no little foole
Be counted for thy mirth.
The child in time was waxen great,
And all the Sophists he did threat
Their problemes to confound ;
Grammarians sore did stand in feare
The coynage of his words to heare,
So uncouth was their sound.
For by a naturall instinct
The Graces to his lips were linkt,
(Forsooth his lips were faire.)
His mouth did open ere he spake,
22
PANEGYRICK VERSES
And swifter farre then Ducke and Drake
His words flew through the ayre.
The stony hearts that could not bide
A Church-Ale at a Whitsontide,
He suppled with his speech :
And like a Captaine bold and stout
He did advance his Eagles snowt,
Faire thrive it I beseech.
Not Mahound, no nor Termagaunt
Could ever make halfe their avant
Of deedes so sterne and fell,
As can this child Sir Thopas Squire,
Inspired with a sparke of fire
Stolne out of wisdomes cell.
He hammers words upon his teeth
(Rime thereunto I can unneeth)
Yet still I will proceede ;
Like as a Beare doth licke her whelpe,
Their roughnesse so his tongue doth helpe,
When polishing is neede.
Now Lordings mercy doe I aske,
That since I under-went this taske
His name I have conceald ;
He keepes the Magazine of wit,
And beares the privy key of it,
Which may not be reveal d.
Yet in despite of bread and ale,
Unbuckled now shall be the male,
Betide what may betide :
His name is Coryate I wis,
But whether he be flesh or fish,
I cannot yet decide.
For like the errant Knight Ulysses,
Through the Seas amongst the fishes
He lanched forth his hulke :
The sides whereof were heard to groane
No lesse than twenty miles and one
Under his grievous bulke.
23
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Then either without scrippe or bagge
. -
He usde his ten-toes tor a nagge
From Venice for to hie.
Thorough thicke, and thorough thinne
Untill he came unto his Inne,
His winged heeles did flie.
He travaild North, he travaild South
With * Hyperaspist in his mouth
A word of his devising.
For nature letters pattents gave
To him the priviledge to have
Of words naturalizing.
To trees and steeples as he went
He did his homage verament,
And salu-ed them each one.
He registred their names alwaies ;
Contrary if that any saies,
The booke is to be showne.
A Cortizan then lycoras
More sweet in Venice towne there was,
That wisht him for her owne :
But shee could never him hand fast ;
For as a Gelding he was chast,
Though Gelding he were none.
The Barcarvola appetite
His Gondola directed right
Unto a female Elfe ;
Yet would he not play Cupids Ape,
In Chaucers jest lest he should shape
* A word that the author once used in an Oration to the Prince,
metaphorically signifying (as being derived from these two Greeke
wordes virep, that signifieth above, and WCTTTIS, a shield, that is, one
that opposeth his shield in the defence of his friend against the blow
of an enemie) a Patron or Protector. Which word by a kind of
conversion may be not improperly applied (as a certaine conceited
Gentleman lately said) to the authour himselfe. Hyperaspist quasi
hy per hor spist, that is, one upon whom never Asses pist, but Horses once
pist on him, as when he lay upon straw at their heeles in Bergomo a
Citie of Lombardie.
24
PANEGYRICK VERSES
A Pigsnye like himselfe.
This wandring Squire full oft I heard
The circle of his beard had squard,
And skowred every haire ;
That sweeter then the Eglentine,
And then the purple Columbine
He did appeare more faire.
He had a kind of simple blush
That kept him still from being flush,
When Ladies did him wooe :
Though they did smile, he seem d to scowle,
As doth the faire broade-faced fowle,
That sings To whit to whooe.
It was no crochet of his braine
That put his legs to so great paine
In passing to and fro :
But sure it was the quintessence
Of study, that beyond all sence
Had made his wits to crow.
With Latin he doth rule the roast,
And spowteth Greeke in every coast,
Ne r may his well-spring fade :
He over-speakes the English tongue,
And picketh gold out of the dongue
That ancient Poets made.
If any Zoilus will carpe,
Or take upon him for to harpe
Upon his learned strings :
On foote to Venice let him goe,
And then at his returning show
What fruite from thence he brings.
For had our Coryate beene a Jade,
In halfe the journey that he made
He had beene foundered cleane :
But now by foote, by cart, and saile,
Tom Coryate is come from Itaile,
From Italie I meane.
The squeazie humour of his braine
25
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Before he parted from this maine,
Neare perished his skull :
Now since the Sunne beganne to sup,
And drinke those grosser vapours up,
He is no more a Gull.
Oh let the fardels of his leaves
Be held more pretious then the sheaves
Pitched up in harvest time ;
Ne ever any man alive
May see them sayling from Queene-hive
Now Muse stay heere thy rime.
Explicit AT
Incipit Henricus Nevill de Abergevenny.
Henry Nevill. /^lOldilockt God that doest on Parnasse dwell,
Vj" O thou that sweetly playest on a fiddle
To sisters Nine, that Aganippes Well
Do much frequent, there bathing to the middle ;
Lend me thy notes, that I may sweeter sing
Of Tom of Odcombe then doth Odcombe ring.
Oh that some errant Knight could now be scene,
That he might dubbe thee ; crying, Up Sir Thomas :
Their dangers and adventures lesse have beene
That erst did wander to the land of promise.
Thou mak st Sir Bevis and sir Guy a fable,
With all the daring knights of the round table.
Unto thy shoes, thy shirt, thy fustian case,
That hang at Odcombe, trophees of thy travailes,
Joyne this fayre book of thine, which makes thee passe
Great Merlin Cockay in recounting marveiles.
Whilst pendant scutchins others tombes adorne,
O re thine these faire atchivements shall be borne.
Explicit Henricus Nevill de Abergevenny.
26
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Joannes Harrington de Bathe.
THou glorious Goose that kept st the Capitoll,
Afford one quill, that I may write one storie yet
Of this my new-come Odcombe-friend Tom Coryet,
Whose praise so worthy wits and pens inroll
As (with good cause) his custome is to glory it :
So farre am I from judging his a sory wit,
Above earth, seas, ayre, fire, He it extoll
To Cinthias spheare, the next beneath the starres.
Where his vast wit, and courage so audacious
Of equall worth in times of peace, and warres,
(As Rolands erst) encombring roomes capacious
Lie stored some in hogsheads, some in jarres.
This makes the learn d of late in forren parts
Finde Phcebes face so full of wennes and warts.
Explicit Joannes Harrington de Bathe.
Incipit Ludovicus Lewknor.
OLd wormy age that in thy mustie writs
Of former rooles records the present wits,
Tell us no more the tale of Apuleius Asse,
Nor Mydas eares, nor lo eating grasse.
This worke of Toms so farre them all exceeds,
As Phoebus fiddle did Pans squeaking reeds.
He writes not of a gnat, nor frogge, nor woodcocks
bill,
Of steeples, townes, and towers, entreats his gooses
quill
Among the rest hee of a wondrous tub doth tell,
The wine whereof more Poets made then Tempes Well.
In Odcomb d Toms regard the * Cyclops heards were thin,
Our Tom quicke cattell fed whole legions on his skinne.
So did poore bare Philosophers in former times,
And so do Poets now that make the lowzy rimes.
* Homer. F irgiL
27
John Harring
ton.
LudovicLewk-
nor.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
LudovicLewk- Five months with this in child-birth lay Toms labring
Muse,
In all which time he seldome chang d his shirt or shoes.
The care and toyle was his, thine are the gaines,
Cracke then the nut, and take the kernell for thy paines.
Explicit Ludovicus Lewknor.
Henry
Goodier.
Incipit Henricus Goodier.
IF in an evennesse all wisedome lie,
Tom thou art wise, thou dost all evenly.
Once thou didst wench, and thou wert carted once,
Once thou didst * steale, & once they beate thy bones.
Once didst thou beg, and if thou then didst get
Nothing by begging, thou art even yet.
What onely he saw he onely writes, if than
He only reade it, hee s an even man.
Our spies write home no ill of him ; he went,
He staid, he came an even Innocent.
The Jesuites could not shake him : for he would not
Take orders, but remaine an II Idiote.
If any thinke him dull or heavy, know
The Court and cities mirth cannot be so.
Who thinks him light, aske them who had the taske
To beare him in a trunke unto the maske,
He is so equall, that if he were laid
Into those scales whereby the proofe is made,
Whether the woman or the plume prevaile,
He and his booke would hardly turne the scale.
Explicit Henricus Goodier.
* Viz. grapes.
A harmelesse man.
|| A lay man, or private man, as being derived from the Greeke
word tSwTT/s, which signifieth a private man.
28
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Joannes Payton junior.
MAgnifique Caesar that in worth surpasses John Payton\
The greatest of our greatest Turkish Basses, junior.
All the long night oft times did waking tarry,
And made the night the day his Secretary :
Yet if in little volumes you revoke it,
His worke of many yeares lies in your pockit.
But thou 6 Coryate mak st Caesar but a *Javell,
And writest huge volumes of twise ten weekes travell :
Twise twenty weekes a dwarfish birth will aske,
Thou in twise ten brought st forth this mighty taske ;
Then if abortive birth had not prevented,
What Atlas would thy Gyant-braine invented ?
Sith seven such countries none so soone could passe
As thou the learned Coryate Thomas.
Yet thy large writings wonder more I at,
Thou Odcombs only Grace Tom Coryat,
For of the twaine much rather would I misse his
That wrote the ten yeares travels of Ulysses :
For who considers well, he quickly finde should
That thou wrotest perfect, seeing Homer blind-fold.
Explicit Joannes Payton Junior.
Incipit Henricus Poole.
DOn Coryate once I saw, but his booke never, Henry Poole.
Yet meane I to commend them both together :
Him for his booke, his booke for him I praise :
The workman s fame the workmanship doth raise
To great esteeme, no foule tongue can defile it,
The work s of worth, for Coryate did compile it.
The goods wherewith this westerne barge is fraught,
Thou gentle Reader shalt enjoy for nought ;
They cost thee nothing but a thankfull minde,
Which this our author hopes in thee to finde :
* In Prisciano vapulaiite.
29
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Henry Poole. Who in his travell hath observed more,
Then ever any wyzard did before ;
And what he hath observed, with his pen
He here presenteth to his country-men :
That he whom five moneths travell made so witty,
Should live obscure at home, were it not pitty?
Then Coryate feede thy Muse in forraine parts,
Swallow their secrets, and devoure their arts ;
Whereof when thou saturitie shalt gaine,
Come home, and then disgorge thy selfe againe.
Explicit Henricus Poole.
Incipit Robertus Phillips.
Robert OInce every pen is press d to praise
Phillips. ^ Thee travelling Wonder of our daies,
My Muse would chide, should she not sing
The praise of thee most wandring thing,
Who with thy restlesse feete and painefull wit
A booke of wonders now hast writ ;
In which thy worke we plaine do see
How well thy feete and wit agree.
What others thought too heavy and too high,
As Tombes, Steeples, with the Butter-flie,
Thou hast brought home, though not in solid stuffe :
For which let not our carping Criticks huffe :
For thou the substance wouldest not bring
Of ought which might be termed a * solid thing.
Alas poore Tom, they do mistake thy age
Who thinke thou art not past the making sage ;
Or that thy journey had some other ends
Then to delight and recreate thy friends.
And if perhaps some man may call thee foole
For this thy end, good Tom pull out thy toole,
* If you meane solid stones, you are in the right Sir. If solid
Observations, I referre my selfe to the Readers censure after he hath
thoroughly perused my booke, whether I have brought home any
solid thing or no.
30
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Thy booke I mean, demaund if that an Asse Robert
Could have observed so much as he did passe : ?*
Or could have got such praise in rime
As thou shalt shew to future time ;
By which thou shalt so lively pourtrayed bee,
As that the *Asse himselfe himselfe may see.
Thy danger with the Boore, thy hazard with the Jewes,
Thy scabs at Turin, and solace in the stewes,
Let others chaunt, I list not tell them over,
Nor of thy liquid case twixt France and Dover ;
Though there thou madest so great a savour,
& ..... ~ &
That few received it for a favour.
I onely will commend thy constant nature,
Who didst returne the f simple creature
That thou wentst forth, and having trudg d
Much ground, at length art judged
By the full praise of every Muse,
Which ushereth in thy booke of newes :
Therefore brave Champion of the Whitson-ale,
Let thy fayre journall to the presse hoise saile,
That after ages too may know thee,
As well as we that now enjoy thee.
Who to the end that gratefull we may seeme,
Thee of the JMarrot worthy doe we deeme.
Explicit Robertus Phillips.
Incipit Dudleus Digges upon the Author
and his paynes.
OUr Author will not let me rest, he sayes, Dudley
Till I write somewhat in his labours praise ;
I thinking straight upon Deliverie,
Protest his labour such a Prodigie,
* I meane any critical! carper that shall taxe thee for thy Booke.
t Not composed of the vices of those countries through which thou
traveld st, which doth often happen to many of our English men that
returne home corrupted in manners and much worse then they went
forth.
| That is, the Lawrell, so called from one Marrot a French Poet.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Dudley As may a Mountebanke Man-midwife gravell
To see a man that was five mon ths in travell,
So fairly brought abed, and of a birth
*So but of that judge by these gossips mirth.
Joy to the glad Dad, who such fondnes shewes,
That by a hundred markes the wise child knowes
Who twas, and can in print already call,
Coryate the kind Father, and the Naturall.
In genium liber iste tuum Coriate sepultum
Continet, inde petat qui caret ingenio.
Explicit Dudleus Digges.
Incipit Rowlandus Cotton.
Rowland /^iQlumbus, Magelan, and Drakes brave story
Cotton. vet remem bred unto their glory.
But thy high deeds with theirs when I compare,
I say thy travels have with theirs no share.
I wonder then this writing age hath fail d
To tell ere this how farre Tom Coryate sail d
In five mon ths time, and most or all on foote.
What man alive that ever else did do t?
It cannot be but that the world did looke
That thou thy selfe hereof shouldst write a booke,
What good acceptance such a booke shall finde,
Thou need st not doubt, there s no man so unkind
That will make scruple for to be thy halfe
Since thou the heifer art that beares the calfe.
Tis thy first borne Tom, I pray thee love it ;
And whosoever shall thy issue covet,
I wish there may befall him this one curse,
To treade thy steps againe, and with thy purse.
Yet one thing Tom I do dislike in sooth,
Thou dost not spare thy selfe to tell a truth.
As that in the first ^Enei. of Virgil. Quos ego.
This is that which the Latines call Indulgentia, the Grecians
32
PANEGYRJCK VERSES
What need st thou in thy storie be so nice, Rowland
To tell thy child of all thy nits and lice?
Yet it becomes thee well, and much the rather,
The sonne, I thinke, will prove so like the father.
But pardon Tom, if I no Further tell
Those gifts which in thee do by nature dwell.
Who tels the Asse that he hath two long eares,
Or Chanti-cleare that he a coxcombe weares?
Why, all the world doth know as well as I
That never any did as much descrie,
So many nations, manners, and so soone,
Except alone the man that s in the moone.
Let other wits that with a nimbler wing
Do cut the emptie ayre, thy prayses sing ;
My Muse intreats thee to resume thy penne,
And to relate unto thy countrey-men
Whether thy father Joviall were or sad,
And what complexion thy faire mother had
When they were linked in wedlocks lovely band,
And whether of them had the upper hand :
How many mon ths thy mother did intombe
Thy tender body in her fruitfull wombe :
What milder planet governed in the skie
In the horoscope of thy nativity,
Thy mothers midwife, and thy nurses name,
The shire and houshold whence thy linage came.
Who trained up thy youth, and in what place,
Whether where Isis hides her dewie face,
Or where the silver streames of Chame do glide,
Shaddowed with willowes upon either side ;
That other men may learne to get a sonne
To see those countries which thy selfe hast done.
This calculation yet would breed a danger,
And twere not fit to teach it every stranger ;
Lest when the world thy learned booke should view,
A foole might get as wise a child as you.
Explicit Rowlandus Cotton.
[Incipit Robertus
c. c. 33 c
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Robertas Yaxley.
Robert TF the Author had a curious coate
Taxley. With cap of costly die,
And crowne of cocke for crest thereon,
With whetstone hanging by,
Then might he tell of travellers,
And all the thriftlesse traine,
Which proudly forth on Asses pricke,
Twixt Italy and Spaine.
For Thomas is by travell tri d,
And truth of him to tell,
Ther s few of them that now go forth
Returne home halfe so well.
Then buy this booke ye Brittons bold,
But read it at your leisure :
For it and he, and he and it,
Were made to shew you pleasure.
Explicit Robertus Yaxley.
Incipit Joannes Strangwayes.
John Strong- r I ^Hou crav st my verse, yet do not thank me for it,
wayes. J_ j? or w hat rimes can praise enough Tom Coryate?
Kemp yet doth live, and only lives for this
Much famous, that he did dance the Morris
From London unto Norwich. But thou much more
Doest merit praise. For though his feete were sore,
Whilst sweaty he with antick skips did hop it,
His treadings were but friscals of a poppet.
Or that at once I may expresse it all,
Like to the Jacks of jumbled virginall.
But thou through heats and colds, through punks and
trunks,
Through hils and dales hast stretcht thy weary stumps,
Feeding on hedge-row fruits, and not on plum-trees,
Onely through zeale to visite many countries.
But stay a while, and make a stand my Muse,
34
PANEGYRICK VERSES
To think upon his everlasting shoe s. 3ohn Strang-
Come to my helpe some old-shod pilgrime wight,
That I of you may tread the way aright
Which leads unto his fame, whilst I do stile
How he did go at least nine hundred mile
With one poore paire of shooes, saving alone-a
He onely once did sole them at * Verona.
So that it grew a question whether
Thy shoes or feete were of more lasting leather.
Which at that time did stand thee in most use,
When as the Jewes would cut off thy prepuce ;
But thou that time like many an errant Knight,
Didst save thy selfe by vertue of thy flight.
Whence now in great request this Adage stands ;
One paire of legges is worth two paire of hands.
Explicit Joannes Strangwayes.
c
Incipit Gulielmus Clavel.
Clavel.
Oryats travels doe bewitch my pen,
Worke miracles, making the dumbe to speake :
My dumbe-borne Muse yet never knowne to men
Doth by his charmes her silent custome breake.
For if his worthy actes had not beene such,
The world could not have drawen from me thus much.
They only force from me both praise and wonder,
Who past beliefe have conquerd many dangers :
It can not be describ d what he brought J under,
Leaving the skars of his renowne with strangers.
Then frolicke man and in thy country rowse thee,
Although abroade thou scornd st not to be lowsie.
Send out thy copious booke to common view,
Make many laugh, some scorne, move most to pitty.
Those that travell, (as no man hath his due)
* You should have said Zurich.
| You meane some merry matter Sir.
35
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
William s na n still confesse with shame thy booke is witty ;
x~ //
And after ages will admire no doubt
O
This Gog-Magog thy Gyant-wit brings out.
Explicit Gulielmus Clavel.
Incipit Joannes Scory,
John Scory. npHat thou a traveller mayst called bee,
A Thanks to thy braines that travell, not to thee ;
That thou a rare read-schollar clepyd art,
Give more thanks to thy tongue, then to thy arte.
Yet have thy feete in five moneths pass d more Cities,
Then ere thy Poetrie will make good ditties.
Ballets unfit to stand before thy booke,
Wherein who so with judgments eies will looke,
May see a monster of five moneths begetting.
More rare than that of thy own Sires begetting.
Some say, when thou wert borne (O wondrous hap)
First time thou pist thy clouts, thou drew st a map.
But that thou spakest as soone as thou wert borne,
There is no doubt. For else how couldst thou learne
In so short time to talke so long and much,
And to such purpose. Yet I heare no Dutch,
Nor French, nor Spanish, nor the Italian tongue ;
So mightst thou do thy Greeke and Latin wrong ;
Of which thou utterst such abundant store,
That thy full braines can now containe no more.
Well Tom, since Europe thou hast scene in part,
Now into Asia and Africke make a start.
Boldly encounter all the monsters there :
For seeing thee they needs must flie for feare.
But still be sure thy buckler be thy booke,
Medusaes shield had ne re so grim a looke.
Explicit Joannes Scory.
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Joannes Donne.
OH to what heigth will love of greatnesse drive John Donne.
Thy leavened spirit, Sesqui-superlative ?
Venice vast lake thou hadst scene, wouldst seeke than
Some vaster thing, and foundst a Cortizan.
That inland Sea having discovered well,
A Cellar-gulfe, where one might saile to hell
From Heydelberg, thou longdst to see ; And thou
This Booke, greater than all, producest now,
Infinite worke, which doth so farre extend,
That none can study it to any end.
Tis no one thing ; it is not fruite, nor roote ;
Nor poorely limited with head or foote.
If man be therefore man, because he can
Reason, and laugh, thy booke doth halfe make man.
One halfe being made, thy modesty was such,
That thou on th other halfe wouldst never touch.
When wilt thou be at full, great Lunatique?
Not till thou exceed the world ? Canst thou be like
A prosperous nose-borne wenne, which sometime growes
To be farre greater than the Mother-nose?
Goe then ; and as to thee, when thou didst goe,
Munster did Townes, and Gesner Authors show,
Mount now to Gallo-belgicus ; Appeare
As deepe a States-man, as a Gazettier.
Homely and familiarly, when thou commest backe,
Talke of Will Conqueror, and Prester Jacke.
Goe bashfull man, lest here thou blush to looke
Upon the progresse of thy glorious booke.
To which both Indies sacrifices send ;
The west sent gold, which thou didst freely spend,
(Meaning to see t no more) upon the presse.
The east sends hither her deliciousnesse ;
And thy leav s must embrace what comes from thence,
The Myrrhe, the Pepper, and the Frankinsence.
This magnifies thy leav s ; but if they stoope
To neighbour wares, when Merchants doe unhoope
37
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
John Donne. Voluminous barrels, if thy leav s doe then
Convay these wares in parcels unto men,
If for vaste Tomes of Currans, and of Figs,
Of Medcinall, and Aromatique twigs,
Thy leav s a better methode doe provide,
Divide to Pounds, and Ounces subdivide ;
If they stoope lower yet, and vent our wares,
Home-manufactures, to thicke popular faires,
If omniprEegnant there, upon warm stals
They hatch all wares for which the buyer cals,
Then thus thy leav s we justly may commend,
That they all kinde of matter comprehend.
Thus thou, by meanes which th Ancients never tooke,
A Pandect makest, and Universall Booke.
The bravest Heroes, for publique good
Scattred in divers lands, their limmes and blood.
Worst malefactors, to whom men are prize,
Doe publique good, cut in Anatomies ;
So will thy Booke in peeces : For a Lord
Which casts at Portescues, and all the board,
Provide whole Books ; Each leafe enough will be
For friends to passe time, and keepe companie.
Can all carouse up thee ? No : thou must fit
Measures ; and fill out for the half-pinte wit.
Some shal wrap pils, and save a friends life so,
Some shall stop muskets, and so kill a foe.
Thou shalt not ease the Critiques of next age
So much, at once their hunger to asswage.
Nor shall wit-pyrats hope to finde thee lie
All in one bottome, in one Librarie.
Some leav s may paste strings there in other books,
And so one may, which on another looks,
Pilfer, alas, a little wit from you,
But hardly * much ; and yet, I thinke this true ;
As Sybils was, your booke is misticall,
For every peece is as much worth as all.
* I meane from one page which shall paste strings in a booke.
38
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Therefore mine impotency I confesse ; John Donne.
The healths which my braine beares, must be farre lesse ;
Thy Gyant wit o erthrowes me, I am gone ;
And rather then reade all, I would reade none.
In eundem Macaronicon.
QUot, dos haec, LINGUISTS perfetti, Disticha fairont,
Tot cuerdos STATES-MEN, hie liure fara tuus.
Es sat A MY 1 honneur estre hie inteso : Car i LEAVE
L honra, de personne nestre creduto, tibi.
Explicit Joannes Donne.
Incipit Richardus Martin.
To my friend that by lying at the signe of the Richard
Fox doth prove himselfe no Goose, Thomas
Coryate, the Traveller, a Sonet.
OFor a bonny blith and bounsing ballet
To praise this Odcomb d Chanti-cleere that hatched
These Crudities which (with his shoes) he patched,
All hitting right as it were with a mallet,
Before us here he sets both bag and wallet,
Where met are many scraps (you see) unmatched :
His feete, hands, head (daies and nights) walkt, wrote,
watched :
And hardly did he lie on any pallet.
Much oyle he sav d both from his shoes and sallats,
Which thriftily he ate while they were cobled ;
Then (for his fruite) these Crudities he gobled,
Which since he season d hath for sundry palats.
To him therefore vaile travellers your bonnets,
Of him write Poets all your Songs and Sonnets.
Explicit Richardus Martin.
[Incipit Laurentius
39
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Laurentius Whitakerus.
Laurence Ad Lectorem bipedem de Authore *Polypode,
deque proverbio ipsi usitato, eque Demos-
thene citato, scil. rot/ eyKecpaXov ev rot/? Trrepvai?,
KOI M ev TCI? KporafyoiS (popelv,
Qv /H.OVQV ev Kporddtois, aXX ei TTTepvat?
AeiKWcriv e epywv vovv enroot] /u.ov e ^eiv
A.y%ivo)<s ra^ecos re TOCT ovpea <TK\^pa TT
Ta? r ayopas, 7rpo(3o\a9, KOi\aas, ySe
Ev /JiV 6^0) OaTTWf OVK ?}V TToSctS O)KU? A)(t
Me/oj^a /xj/^ ayro? ypd/u.fJ.aT e-jraivov e^et.
Ttoi/ TTTeovcov i/ooi e^fbaivova i Tropecai,
Kat rou r)v KpoTa<p(Joi> SeiKeXov ecrrJ f3l(3\os,
Ad Odcombiam (nimium, bona si sua norit,
fcelicem) de indigena ipsius celeberrimo,
Pedite celerrimo, -fPugile acerrimo, JVigile
macerrimo, Tomo compacto Coriaceo, Thoma
Coriato.
ERige turrigerum praerupta Odcombia collem,
E gremio Monstrum prosilit ecce tuo.
Prosilit historicus, vates, rhetor, peregrinans,
Cui non dant foetum Punica regna parem.
Bisque biceps author prolem dat Tea-<rapajui.op(pov,
Historiis, miris, rhetoris arte, metris.
Neu Monstri nomen laevum quis dixerit, audi ;
Rectius hos dici nil potuisse scias.
Monstrum a monstrando Criticus denominat, ecquis
Tot vel tanta alius quae tibi monstret, habet?
Te mundo monstrat, notam facit, & tibi mundum ;
Subjiciens oculis extera mira tuis.
* Vel quia Polypodis instar crebra loci mutatione multos passus pro-
fectus, vel quia multipedum animalculorum multos morsus perpessus est.
f Ob validam ipsius cum Judaeo Veneto, & Vangione rustico luctam.
| Ob maciem ex nocturna lucubratione, hodaeporetica monitione, &
Cruditatum molitione contractam.
40
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Visere sed vatis terras magis usque remotas Laurence
Pluraque fert animus mira referre tui. Whitaker,
Hunc post emensos tantos, Odcombia, cursus
Exceptum gremio, chara, foveto tuo.
Semper ut hoc cunctis Portentum nobile monstres,
Visere qui cupient Theseos ora tui.
To the most peerelesse Poetical Prose-writer, the
most Transcendent, Tramontane Traveller,
and the most single-soled, single-souled, and
single-shirted Observer, the Odcombian Gallo-
belgicus.
WOnder of worlds, that with one fustian case,
One payre of shoes, hast done Odcombe the grace
To make her name knowen past the Alpine hils,
And home return d hast worne out many quils
In writing faire thy large red-lin d Rehearsall
Of what thou saw st with sharpe eyes which did pearce all
Stone Tombes, great gates, and manners of the people,
Besides the height of many a * Tower and Steeple,
^nailes, 2 Butterflies, black 3 sheep, 4 black hogs, & 5 Storks
And the neate use of eating meate with 6 forkes :
And, that of stuffe thou might st leave out no odd piece
To raise thy worke, th hast writ o th Switzers 7 Cod
piece :
Thou saw st the Venice 8 Donna s, & didst quarrell
With the Dutch JBoore, thou saw st the monstrous
t barrel :
But O thy temper! seldome wast thou drunke,
Nor hadst but one night s solace with thy punke :
Nor in thy pilgrimage wert much a sinner,
But when thou didst listeale bread to save a dinner.
*P P . 113, 183, 451.
!P. 68. 2 P. 76. 3 P. 68. 4 Ibid. 5 P. 41. 6 P. 90.
7 P. 386. 8 P 261. | P. 524. fP. 486.
[The references are to the pages of the original text.]
41
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Laurence Thou in all sorts of travell hadst thy part,
Whitaker. g ut most on f ootej an d sometimes in a cart.f
Nor didst thou scorne for all spruce Criticks mockings,
T accept of gift a Prussians aged stockings.
Thow sawst the field of many a famous battell,
And home thou cam st well furnisht with quicke cattell ;
Yet must I say thy fortune therein was ill,
For thou wentst nak t to wash thy shirt at Basil ;
And having seene Cloysters, and many a Monke,
Becam st thy selfe a Recluse in a trunke.
But Il e not write thy labours Inventory,
Pie say but this of thee, and of thy story,
Thou well describ st the marvels thou didst see,
And this thy booke as well describeth thee.
SONNET compose en rime a la *Marotte, accommode
au style de 1 Autheur du liure ; faict en loiiange de cet
Heroique Geant Odcombien, nomme non Pantagruel,
mais Pantagrue, c est a dire, ny Oye, ny Oison, ains
tout Grue, accoustre icy en Hochepot, Hachis, ou
Cabirotade, pour tenir son rang en la Librairie de
1 Abbaye St. Victor a Paris, entre le liure de Mar-
moretus de baboinis & cingis, & celuy de Tirepetanus
de optimitate triparum ; & pour porter le nom de la
Cabirotade de Coryat, ou, de 1 Apodemistichopezologie
de 1 Odcombeuili Somerseti (Soti) en, &c.
SI de ce pais le pourpris spatieux,
(D ou est sorti ce Badin precieux)
Ou bien la Suisse, ou mesme PAlemagne
Pouroit fournir quelque douce compagne
D esprit pareil, & de condition
Semblable a luy, le vieil Deucalion
|| Beleeve him not reader, he brings this in onely to make up the
rime.
tP. 9-
* A scavoir seloa le style de Clement Marot vieil Poete Francois.
Cest a dire, Voyageur du mot Grec,
42
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Et Pyrrhe en eux seroient resuscitez :
Car ne nasquit de leurs cailloux iettez,
Que tas de gens, & un monde nouueau :
Ainsi des pierres, ou nostre II Blaireau
Alette 1 oeil (fut-ce aux Fonts, ou Potences,
Clochers, Statues, qui tiennent balances)
Est ne soudain un grand hideux volume
De beau discours, qui s est rendu 1 enclume
De nos esprits, un monde de fadeze,
Dont le goutteux se resiouir soit aise.
Tay toy Rablais, rabbaisse soit 1 orgueil
De tes Endouilles, qui d un bel accueil
Receurent ton * Geant en la f Farouche,
A ce Geant d Odcombe pierre & souche
Park, fournit des comptes, Pentretint
Le muguetta, voire & son sens maintint
En ce travail : Mais scais-tu bien pour quoy ?
Son Chef Creste luy donna ceste loy,
Que des hommes du lieu ne scachant le language,
Parmy troncs & cailloux il passeroit sa rage.
Explicit Laurentius Whitakerus.
Incipit Hugo Holland.
In persona & laudem authoris.
Ov Tro\v/j.r)Tis e yco, TroSa? aXXa /mev COKV? O owcreu?, Hugo
/3Ae\j/-a9 TrXavovirXeov e lKotri Keivov,
a -rra ypa<^>u> ^eVo? o<p6a\ju.6iiTiv e/ma
, yaiaoe evi iraTpiSi "Xepari.
|| Un certain animal, qui a la veue fort percante.
* Pantagruel.
t Une Isle ainsi appellee par Rablais.
[Sonetto
43
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Sonetto.
H U S (~\ Ui P uo niirar ognun, chi non e cieco,
Holland. V^J 1 Un gallant huomo ch in Italia e stato :
Ma del parlare ha mai motto imparato,
Troppo pecan te era por tarsi seco.
Egli pur bravamente parlal Graeco,
Havendo mai la Graecia caminato :
Ma quel viaggio, di ch ei n ha parlato,
Gli a piu gran stento, e piu gran lode ceco.
E per vedere i lidi del Leuante ;
El signor Turco, e l messer prete Gianni :
Donde tornando un Paladin errante,
Con qualche spesa di quatrini e d anni :
Ne contera, fra cose tali e tante,
II Turco un pantalon, e l prete un Zanni.
To Topographicall Typographicall Thomas.
I Sing the man, I sing the wofull case,
The shirt, the shoes, the shanks that serv d to trace
Seven Countries wide, the greater was his paine,
That two to one he ever came againe,
Yet two for one he came : O Muse, O Maid,
(If Maid or Muse) say what hath so beraid
This silly *soule, and drove him to such labours,
As had his hide bene onely made for tabours?
Recount my Girle, what did he with the French,
Before he courted the Venetian wench?
How could he leave his well-boyl d beere, & scape,
To drinke the raw bloud of the Germane grape?
Wherewith his watrie teeth being set on edge,
He nigh had lost of teeth his double hedge.
At home much did he suffer, much abroad,
And never once (poore f Asse) did cast his load,
Yet further went then Scaracalasino,
* Iniignem pietate virum. eya/cos oSovrwv. Horn.
f Note reader that a traveller must have the backe of an Asse, the
mouth of a sow, the eye of a hawke, a merchants eare, &c.
44
PANEGYRICK VERSES
And after litter d lay at Bergomo. Hugo
This usage did he beare abroad uncivil!, Holland.
At home too was he borne not farre from Evill.
In Odcombe parish yet famous with his cradle,
A chicke he hatcht was of an egge unaddle.
Whence a yong Cockrel he was sent for knowledge
To Winchester, and planted in the Colledge :
Not there to prove a goose (for he is none)
But that he might with other Cocks come on.
Where loe a dwarfe in stature he so pliant
Grew in the Greeke, that he became a Giant,
Pronouncing then Demosthenes each letter
More plaine, and reading all then Homer better,
This Prince of Poets, that of Rhetoritians.
His Latine too deserves more praise then Priscians,
For Coryate lives, and Priscian he is dead,
No marvaile ; Coryate brake so oft his head.
Now when in Greeke and Latin he could gravell
His schoole fellowes, forsooth he needs will travell ;
Not for bare language, but (his charges earning
On the by) on the maine, for reall learning.
Be Basil proofe and Zurich too, and Frankfort,
As thou in print maist see, if thou him thanke for t.
What would he with more tongues? he hath enough,
That which he hath is fine neat-leather tough :
And yet at Calais to confound the Masse
Some say he spake the tongue of Balaams Asse.
And others, that with Sampsons Asses jawbone.
He slew whole hoasts : so is he rough and rawbone.
T were but a frump to name the Asses backe,
Each common traveller beares thereon his packe :
I therefore leave the Asse for feare he doubt,
Or others for him, that I should him flout.
But as the Serpent (not the goose) that hisses,
So is he wise, and equald with Ulysses ;
Who townes of many men hath seene & manners :
The more was he beholding to the tanners.
If he had but one onely paire of shoes.
45
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hugo Then how much leather thinke ye could he loose?
Holland. He hath scene Paris garden and the Lions,
And Paris Garden of all France, and Lyons,
With all the townes that lye twixt this and Venice,
Where (howbeit some say he played at tennis)
He more prevaild against the xcoriate Jewes,
Then Broughton could, or twenty more such Hughs,
And yet but for one petty poore misprision,
He was nigh made one of the Circumcision.
But holla, that s a part that must be privy ;
Now go we to the towne of learned Livy.
Where being before Licentiat, he proceeded
To beg like a poore Paduan, when he needed.
Then through Vicenza and Brescia doth he goe
Among the Cogleons, those of Bergomo.
Who made him lye in litter like a Villan :
Then viewes he, in his case of fustaine, Milan.
(Not Milan fustaine though) yet such a trophae
As might become a Soldan or a Sophe.
Which in his frontispice he doth extoll,
Like those of Marius in Romes Capitoll.
And well the case was lin d with poudred Ermin.
Though others thinke it was some stranger vermin.
Now should I tell his travels with the Dutch,
But that my Muse doth feare to drinke too much.
For, if the water of poore Hippocrene
Doth make her drunke, what wil the wine of Rhene?
Both Heidelberg I passe, and the great hogshead,
Which he bestrid him selfe, like a great hogs-head.
Who list the paines or pleasure take to looke,
Shall this and more finde printed in the booke.
Whose merits here I will no further raise :
That were my friend to sell, and not to praise.
Perhaps I know some that have seene the Turke,
Yet would be whipt ere they wrote such a worke.
But what a volume here will rise anone,
When he hath seene both Turke and Prester John?
Enough : yet in his Crudities behoofe,
46
PANEGYRICK VERSES
This will I say : It is a booke of proofe. Hugo
Wherein himselfe appeares (I will be plaine) Hoi/and.
No foole in print, nor yet a knave in graine.
A Parallell betweene Don Ulysses of Ithaca and
Don Coryate of Odcombe.
The Preamble to the Parallell.
IF morall Plutarch had done nothing else,
Yet would we praise him for his parallels ;
Where he with every Greeke doth match a Roman.
I that would be his Ape, can fancie no man,
(Though learned Hackluyt hath set many forth)
Amongst our English, who for wit and worth
May be compared with the Ithacan,
Unlesse that Brute the brave Odcombian.
What do you tell me of your Drakes or Candishes ;
We never were beholding to their standishes.
This man hath manners seene, and men outlandish ;
And writ the same : so did not Drake nor Candish.
If Drake be famous because he did wander
About the Seas, Tom may be well a Gander,
That ravisheth with his harmonious quill
More eares than any Swan on Parnasse hill.
The Parallell it selfe.
ULysses was a merry Greeke they say,
So Tom is, and the Greeker of the tway.
Ulysses left at home an aged Syre,
And Tom an aged mother by the fyre.
Ulysses was an Islander I trow,
How then? I pray you is not Coryate so?
Perhaps Ulysses did in wit excell,
Our Coryate though doth of more learning smell.
Ulysses had a ship of no great bulke,
And Coryate went to Calais in a hulke.
Ulysses in the Trojan horse was hid,
The Heidelbergian barrell Tom bestrid.
47
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hugo Good harnesse did Ulysses guarde and grace,
Holland. Where Coryate nought had but a fustian case.
Ulysses hardly from his Circe sluncke,
As hardly Tom from his Venetian Puncke.
By land Ulysses in a Chariot rode,
And Coryate in a Cart, the greater lode.
Ulysses with sterne Ajax had to doe,
With the Dutch Boore so had poore Coryate too.
At home left Ulix store of beasts and chattell,
And Coryate home came guarded with more cattell.
Ulysses us d to drinke the ^Ethiop wine,
With whitson-ale his cap doth Coryate line.
Just twenty yeares Ulysses with his Greeks
Did wander : Coryate just as many weeks.
Ulysses all that while had but one carvell,
Tom but one paire of shoes, the greater marvell.
Minerva holpe Ulysses at a lift,
And Pacience Coryate, for there was no * shift.
Ulysses heard no Syren sing : nor Coryate
The Jew, least his praepuce might prove excoriate.
Ulysses had a wife to lust unprone,
But Coryate had a chaster, having none.
Ulysses seem d a beggar all to torne,
So Coryate did ; and was I dare be sworne.
Ulysses in his travell builded Flushing,
Where Coryate ending, or e the Sea came brushing.
One Homer only sung Ulysses praise,
But Coryats all the Poets of our daies.
The Epilogue of the Parallel.
TAke Reader with a laughing looke
This Odcome new-come well-come booke.
Looke with the like thou take these parallels,
In sober sadnesse we shall marre all else.
For Coryate with us both will quarrell,
And teare himselfe out of his parell.
* Because he came from Venice with one shirt.
48
PANEGYRICK VERSES
In each point though they doe not jumpe, Hugo
I trust they doe yet in the lumpe.
Nor would I joyne them head and feete ;
Lines parallel! doe never meete.
Yet one day meete may thou and I,
And laugh with Coryate ere we die.
Englyn un-odl inion.
YNod y mourglod ae am arglwydh mawr,
* Hwuad-mor cyfarwydh :
Dymma nawr DWM un arwydh,
Ond thydan gwaithlhwdwn gwydh?
Ad Janum Harringtonum Badensem, Equitem ;
non Equitem Badensem, sed auratum.
These Latin verses following were written to be sent to
the worthy and learned Knight above-named, by the
Author of the former, for the obtayning of his
encomiasticks upon my booke : but though they never
came to that worthy Knights hands, I have thought
good to insert them here, because it was the authors
pleasure to have them printed with the rest of his
Panegyricks.
OBone, cui translatus olet miserabilis Ajax,
Qui sat es ingenio & carmine notus eques.
Inficiat furui vis ne fumosa Tobacci,
Neu piper attactu mordeat acre suo :
Ne scombros metuant (metuunt quoque carmina scombros)
Thusue gravi piceum condat odore rogum.
His concede precor folliis, ferventer f solentis
Sub Clypeo Ajacis posse latere tui.
Explicit Hugo Holland,
Cambro-Britannus.
* Sir Francis Drake.
f Itane amicum tuum perstringes (mi Hollande) cum tuis Mephiticis
& graveolentibus facetiis ? num tu Stercutio dedicabis, quas alii mei
amici Musis & Palladi consecrant ? absit, absit.
c. c. 49 D
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Robertas Riccomontanus.
Robert Rich- s~*\ Oryate, thou Coryphoeus of Odcombe Whitson-Ale,
v_>< Who since art our Choregus o er many a hill and
dale :
Thy skill in Artes and Armes doe to us evenly show,
As thou art borne to Mars, so to Mercurio.
Others write bookes prophane, and others that are holy,
But thine a Dosis is against all Melancholy :
A worke of worth, that doth all other workes out-pace
A furlong at the least, thou needst not bate an ace.
A booke of price twill be, if ever there were any,
A hundred Sowses is thy due, thou shalt not bate a peny.
The mayor of Hartlepoole upon a day,
Hearing King Harry was to come that way,
Put on s considering cap, and Kendall gowne,
Consulting with his brethren of the Towne,
What gift they should present as he came by :
A Skatefish (quoth his Councell) sweet and dry :
Nay (quoth the Mayor) weele give him halfe one more :
Soft (quoth another) now your mouth runnes or e :
" As there Masse Mayor, who could not doe but ore-doe,
" So Coryate here, who tels us all, and more * too :
Of mounts, of founts, of rockes, of stockes, of stones,
Of Boores, of whoores, of tombes, of dead mens bones,
Of bowers, of towers, and many a stately steeple,
Helvetians, Rhetians, and many an uncouth people :
Nothing escapes his note, that s worth due observation,
The Gallowes scapes him not without due salutation.
Speake O thou clocke at Strasbourg, and stones at Foun-
tainebeleau,
If Coryate you forget, and not your wonders shew :
Weepe Rhenish drops O Palsgraves Tun, if thou be here
forgotten,
No, no, he hath thee hoopt so well, thy ribbes will n ere
be rotten.
* Not more than truth, but more then other travellers.
For the Author hath written of some of speciall note in his booke.
5
PANEGYRICK VERSES
The Ladyes of Lubricity that live in the Bordello Robert
Are painted in their proper hew by him that is sans mond -
fellow :
He lively them decyphereth, he doth them nought for-
beare,
He strips them to their petticotes, he hits them to a haire.
Who to refresh his graver Muse did often walke per
spasso,
Sometimes to heare the Ciarlatans, and sometimes to the
Ciasso.
And yet herein my ventrous Sir, ywis yee were too curious,
Such places oftentimes doe make most temperate men
most furious.
And who dare sweare for you, I pray, that went for satis
faction,
(You say your selfe) and so may be evicted of the action ?
So that by your confession, sans verdict of a Jurie,
In each place else you shew your wit, but there you shew d
your fury.
Say what you list, sweare and protest, for all this great
Bravado,
It will be said, at least be guest, you were the Puncks
Privado,
And so you l lose great store of those, whose verse may
give you glory,
Especially the female frye, the learned Signiorie.
You le have none such to praise you much : they will
suspect the wench
Hath turn d your Greeke and Latin both into a perfect
French.
Change then thy word (to satisfie) being all one with
Sfogare,
And then thy worke Pie dignifie, to be ad omnia quare.
For who could say so much as thou (whereof thine be the
thankes)
Or of the refractary Jew, or of the Mounte-bankes ?
The stubborne Jew (if it be true) was by thee catechized
At Venice : which at Rome is since by Bellarmine baptized.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Rolen Rich- For sure that Tew from Venice came, we finde it so
recorded,
In late Gazettas : which or lies, or trifles ne er afforded.
In which great act to doome aright, and not as partials,
The greater share is Coryats, the lesse the Cardinals.
Now, who shal reade thy worthy work, and heare thy large
discourses
Will sweare thou knowst the Mountebanks, and tracest al
their courses.
Thou hitst the naile in all things else aright : But O the
Boore,
That caytif kerne, so stout, so sterne, ill thrive he ever
more,
That capt thee for a bunch of grapes : ten tousand Tivels
supplant him.
I see well science hath no foeman nisi ignorantem.
Hadst thou had courage to thy skill, and with this Gyant
coped,
(But 6 such skill and courage both in one can not be
hoped.)
Thou mightst with Guy and Bevis bold, in martial praise
have shared,
And Odcombe might with Hampton, & with Warwick
have compared.
Oh then my Muse a higher pitch had flowen, and had
thee set
All pari to Sir Lancelot tho, before Sir Dagonnet.
Yet brave I grant is thy revenge for that his grosse abuse,
Thy poynant pen hath stab d him in, O piercing launce of
Goose :
Record we in the rolle of fame the Goose and Oxe
together,
Whose shoes did beare him hence, and home, O ever
lasting leather.
Some newes yee shoes, for you did use with Coryate still
to be,
And might us give (if you could speake) some notes as
well as he.
52
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Twere meete that now from shoes I go, to socks & slippers Robert Rich-
next,
And yet its fit I them omit, I finde them not ith Text :
And one bare word of one bare shirt I hope shall be
enoughe,
He loves the naked truth too well, such shifting to
approve :
For nought feares he back-biters nips, in doublet or in
canyons,
He holds them ever as they are, the travellers com
panions,
Couragious Coryate, for one Dutchman that thee sore
assayled,
Thou hast a hundred Picquardes slaine, and to the table
nayled.
Some men may think that this is strange : well he that list
may cavell,
Wise Coryate thinks no luggage light for him that meanes
to travel!.
Leave we the baggage then behinde, and to our matter
turne us,
As Coryate did, who left at home his socks and his
cothurnoes.
For now of wonders must I treate, wast not thinke you a
wonder,
To goe two thousand miles at least, in five months space,
not under?
And of strange notes, foure hundred leaves, twenty
thousand lines to write,
This farre surpasseth Hercules his fifty in a night.
Besides, rare man he tell you can the manners of each
stranger,
Yet, t understand one word they speake, he never was in
danger.
Then lanch thee forth (thou man of worth) when this thy
worke is done
According to thy great designe, as far as shines the
Sunne.
S3
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Robert Rich- And bring us notes of all the world, when thou hast past
it thorow,
Weele have a caske to put them in, shall put downe
Heydelborow.
Explicit Robertus Riccomontanus.
Incipit Gualterus Quin.
In lode del 1 Autore.
La Cornamusa di Gualtero Quin.
Walter Quin. OE 1 gran guerrier, chi tanto fece & scrisse,
O Se stesso, e 1 mondo insieme ingarbugliando,
Per commandar a tutti, mentre ei visse,
De suoi gran vanti andava trionfando ;
Ben e ragion Tom-asino galante,
Ch altiero e bravo tu ti pavoneggi,
Poiche nel far, e scriver stravagante.
Vinci il gran Giulio, non che lo pareggi,
Di quel ch egli hebbe in parecchi anni oprato
Con schiere armate, scrisse un libriccivolo :
Ma dal cervello tuo un libraccio e nato
Di quel, c hai fatto in pochi mesi solo :
Latino & Greco sapeva esso assai ;
Ma del 1 Inglese era affatto ignorante :
To 1 vinci in questo, e pur jd avanzo sai
Greco e Latino, per far un Pedante.
Un gran rumor e terribil fracasso
Fece ei, per metter sotto sopra il mondo :
Di dar da rider con solazzo & spasso
A tutti, fu de tuoi dissegni il fondo.
Molte migliaia di schiere nemiche
Morir ei fe con lancie, dardi, e stocchi :
Mai non ti piacquer Archibugi, 6 Piche,
Ne Morte alcuna, fuor che de pidocchi :
Quei chi scamparon 1 unghie tue prigioni
Portasti addosso : come quel guerriero
Di squadre morte i Prencipi & padroni
54
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Menossi avanti trionsante e altiero. Walter Quin.
Ei vincitor ascese in Campidoglio,
Con pompa e boria, in carro trionfale :
Contadinesco carro senza orgoglio
Per trionfar ti piacque ; manco male.
Colui mostrando, come andava ratto
Nel vincer, scrisse, lo venni, viddi, vinsi :
L hai detto meglio tu vincendo il patto,
Che ti fe scorrer e quinci, e costinci.
Francia, Lamagna, Italia, Helvetia, Rhetia
Non scorse gia senza armi quel bravaccio ;
Come scorresti tu ratto a Venetia,
E indietro a casa tua con poco impaccio.
Solo un Vilan Tedesco, imbriaco, e tristo,
Con bastonate ben ti pesto gli ossi :
Forse ch ei sceso dal vecchio Ariovisto
Di casa Giulia penso che tu fossi.
Ma per disgratia se n valor attivo
A Giulio alcun soprate desse il vanto ;
Egli e pur forza ch in valor passive
Voto e sentenza egli dia dal tuo canto.
Ne suoi viaggi gran fatica ei prese,
Non pero senza Cavai, Muli, & Cocchi :
Tu sempre andavi a pie, mal in arnese.
Vincendo i cingani, staffieri, & scrocchi.
Elquel ch a schivo hauria per morbidezza,
Bastotti un par di scarpe in quel viaggio,
Che rattoppasti spesso con destrezza ;
Di Lesinesca industria vero saggio.
Questa lode anc hai di buon Lesinante
(Di che quel prodigo non fu mai degno)
Ch una camiscia & veste, da buon fante :
Sola portasti allhor senza aschio, 6 sdegno,
Parsa a lui peste faria la tua rogna,
Che nel grattarla dandoti solazzo,
Ballar ti fe come al suon di sampogna,
O Violin di quel francese pazzo.
L haurian ucciso i tuoi stenti, & disagi
55
Walter Quit!.
Christopher
Brooke.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Nel mangiar, bever, dormir, appiccarti
Pulci, pidocchi, & cimici malvagi,
Guastar le gambe, e 1 culo scorticarti :
Nel travagliar col corpo il capo ancora,
Quindi il cervello ogn hora lambicando ;
Per ciascun passo, che pria facesti, ora
Righe altretante dal cervel stillando.
S ei quest! affanni mai sofferti haurebbe,
Manco gl affronti, ente, & scorni, ch omai
Non senti sordo & cieco, soffrirebbe ;
Trastullo a te si fan pur questi guai.
Poiche in oprar, dungue, en patir 1 agguagli,
Anzi lo vinci, Tom-asino invitto,
Qual Cornamusa si gonfi, & travagli,
Chi uvol cantarti con decoro & dritto.
Explicit Gualterus Quin.
Incipit Christophorus Brooke Eboracensis.
As for these titles that follow, bestowed upon me by
this worthy Gentleman, I would have thee know (reader)
that as I acknowledge my selfe utterly unworthy of them,
so I meant to have suppressed and concealed them, but
that it is the Authors pleasure to prefixe them before his
verses. Therefore for obeying of his will I have thought
good, much against mine owne will, to expresse them in
this place, even these.
To the no lesse learned, then wise and discreete
Gentleman, Mr. THOMAS CORYATE,
In some few moneths travell borne & brought up to
what you see viz. :
To be the delight of a world of noble wits,
To be a shame to all Authors, as the Gout and Quartan
Feaver have bene to all Physitians.
This plaine song sendeth CHRISTOPHER BROOKE,
his poore friend, to attend the
56
PANEGYRICK VERSES
descant of his famous booke, through all Hands, Christopher
Tongues, Arts, Trades, Mysteries, and
Occupations whatsoever.
THe subtle Greeke Ulysses needs must travell,
Ten years, forsooth, over much sand and gravell,
And many Cities see, and manners know,
Before there could be writ a booke or two
Of his adventures : and he travel d still
(Else there are lyars) sore against his will :
But this rare English-Latine-Grecian,
Of Orators and Authors the blacke Swan,
A voluntarie journey undertooke
Of scarce sixe moneths, and yet hath writ a booke
Bigger than Homers, and (though writ in prose)
As full of poetry, spite of Homers nose.
If he liv d now that in Darius Casket
Plac d the poore Iliad s, he had bought a Basket
Of richer stuffe to intombe thy volume large,
Which thou (O noble Tom) at thine own charge
Art pleas d to print. But thou needst not repent
Of this thy bitter cost ; for thy brave Precedent
Great Caesar is, who penned his owne gestes,
And (as some write) recited them at feastes.
And at s owne charge had printed them they say,
If printing had bene used at that day.
The Presse hath spent the three for one you got
At your returne : whats that ? poore thing God wot.
Manure this land still with such bookes my friend,
And you shall be paid for it in the end.
For I (me thinkes) see how men strive to carry
This Joviall Journal! into each Library.
And we ere long shall well perceive your wit,
(Grave learned Bodley) by your placing it.
Therefore lanch forth great booke like Ship of fame.
Th Hopewell of Odcombe thou shalt have to name.
Explicit Christophorus Brooke Eboracensis.
57
John Hoikins.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Joannes Hoskins.
Cabalistical Verses, which by Transposition of Words,
Syllables, and Letters, make excellent Sense, otherwise
none.
In laudem Authoris.
EVen as the waves of brainlesse butter d fish,
With bugle home writ in the Hebrew tongue,
Fuming up flounders like a chafing-dish,
That looks asquint upon a Three-mans song :
Or as your equinoctiall pasticrust
Projecting out a purple chariot wheele,
Doth squeeze the spheares, and intimate the dust,
The dust which force of argument doth feele :
Even so this Author, this *Gymnosophist,
Whom no delight of travels toyle dismaies,
Shall sympathize (thinke reader what thou list)
Crownd with a quinsill tipt with marble praise.
-VV--VV-VV
-VV--VV-VV
-VV--V-V-V
-vv-v-v-v
Encomiological Antispasticks,
Consisting of Epitrits, the fourth in the first
syzugie, which the vulgar call Phaleuciac
hendecasyllables ; trimeters Catalectics with
Antispastic Asclepiads, trimeters Acatalectics
consisting of two dactylicall commaes of some
learned named Choriambicks, both together
dicoli distrophi, rythmicall and hyperrythmi-
call, amphibologicall, dedicated to the un
declinable memory of the autarkesticall
Coryate, the only true travelling Porcupen
of England.
* This word Gymnosophist is derived from two
yv/zvos and cro^tcmjs, which signifie a naked sophister.
Greeke words
, . And he there
fore cals the Author so, because one day he went without a shirt at
Basil, while it was washing.
58
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Also there is this tune added to the verses, and pricked John Hosklns.
according to the forme of Musicke to be sung by those
that are so disposed.
n
-N i
N h
1
Jf \j ,
I
z
1J
m
m
f> .
J z
rJ
Admired Coryate, who like a Porcupen, Dost
shew prodigious things to thy countrimen.
ADmired Coryate, who like a Porcupen
Dost shew prodigious things to thy countrimen.
As that beast when he kils doth use his owne darts,
So doe thy prettie quils make holes in our hearts.
That beast lives of other company destitute,
So wentest thou alone every way absolute.
That beast creepeth afoote, nee absque pennis,
So didst thou trot a journey hence to Venice.
Live long foe to thy foe fierce as a Porcupen,
Live long friend to thy friend kinde as a Porcupen.
Henceforth adde to thy crest an armed Histrix,
Since thy carriage hath resembled his tricks.
The same in Latin.
SE jaculo, sese pharetra, sese utitur arcu,*
In reliquas Histrix dum parat arma feras.
Se comite ad Venetam tendens Coriatius urbem,
Se duce, se curru, se fuit, usus equo.
Et decantat iter se nunc authore stupendum,
Nee minus a reditu se quoque teste sapit.
Ergo non immerito peregrinans dicitur Histrix,
Et laudes a se, non aliunde capit.
* Claudian ad Stymphalum.
59
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
John Hoskins. IVT^ more but so, I heard the crie,
-L l And like an old hound in came I
To make it fuller, though I finde
My mouth decayes much in this kind.
The cry was this, they cri de by millions,
Messengers, Curriers, and Postillians,
Now out alas we are undone
To heare of Coryats payre of sho ne ;
There is no newes we are more sorry at
Then this strange newes of *Rawbone Coryate.
Who like a Unicorne went to Venice,
And drinking neither Sack nor Rhenish,
Home in one payre of shoes did trample,
A fearefull and a strange example.
But whats the newes of learned people
In Pauls Churchyard & neere Pauls steeple?
Hang up his shoes on top of Powles,
Tyed to his name in parchment rowles,
That may be read most legibly
In Tuttlefields and Finsbury.
Fame is but winde, thence winde may blow it
So farre that all the world may know it :
From Mexico and from Peru
To China and to Cambalu :
If the wind serve, it may have lucke
To passe by South to the bird Rucke.
Greater then the Stymphalides
That hid the Sunne from Hercules.
And if fames wings chance not to freeze,
It may passe North ninetie degrees,
Beyond Meta incognita,
Where though there be no hpllyday,
Nor Christen people for to tell it,
Horrible Beares and Whales may smell it.
Thence may it on the Northern seas,
On foote walke to the Antipodes,
* A great Gyant swift on foote, of whom mention is in Poly-
chronicon.
60
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Whose feete against our feete do pace J hn Hoskms.
To keepe the centre in his place.
But when those fellowes that do wonder
As we at them, how we go under
From clime to clime, and tongue to tongue,
Throughout their hemispheare along,
Have tost these words as bals at tennis,
Tom Coryate went on foote from Venice.
This travelling fame, this walking sound
Must needs come home in coming round,
So that we shall cry out upon him,
His fame in travell hath outgone him.
When all have talked, and time hath tried him,
Yet Coryate will be semper idem.
SCilicet haud animum coeli mutatio mutat,
Et patriam fugiens se quoque nemo fugit.
Thersites Phrygiis Thersites perstat in oris,
Nee Plato in j^Egypto desinit esse Plato.
Nee Thomas * Tomyris visis remigrabit ab Indis,
Nee f Cordatus erit qui Coriatus erat.
When all have talked, and time hath tri de him,
Yet Coryate will be semper idem.
Explicit Joannes Hoskins.
* Nee vir peregrinans faemina, nee Anglus Romanus fiet.
1 1 meane egregi cordatus homo Catus ./Elius Sextus.
[Incipit Joannes
61
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Joannes Pawlet de George Henton.
John Pawlet. These ensuing verses lately sent unto me by my right
worshipful and generose countryman and neighbour
in Somersetshire, Mr. John Pawlet of George Henton,
had such a glorious title prefixed before them, that I
ment to have excluded it out of my booke, because I
am altogether unworthy of those Panegyricke termes.
But because this worthy Gentleman doth crave to have
it placed before his lines, I doe with his elegant verses
present the same also unto thee, viz.
To the Darling of the MUSES and Minion
of the GRACES,
My deare Country-man and friend,
M. THOMAS CORYATE, of Odcombe,
Ome call thee Homer by comparison ;
Comparisons are odious, I will none :
But call thee (as thou art) Tom Coryate,
That is ; the Man the World doth wonder at.
Whose Braine-pan hath more Pan then Braine by ods,
To make thee all Pan with the semi-gods.
Which pan, when thy fleete wits a wandring goe,
Is *rung to keepe the swarme together so.
So (recollected) thou with them did st flie
To the worlds Gardens, France and Italic,
Where (like a Bee, from every honeyed floure)
The f oddest sweets did st sucke ; which makes thee scowre
At home for life : where, in a II Combe as odde
Thou squirtst it, to feede those that flie abrode.
Explicit Joannes Pawlet.
* Discretion beates upon his braine-pan to keepe wits together.
t That is, choisest.
|| Odcombe, the place of his birth ; the hungry aire whereof first
digested his Crudities, as he himselfe affirmes in his Title-page of this
present worke.
62
S
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Lionel Cranfield.
GReat laude deserves the Author of this worke, Lionel Cran-
Who saw the French, Dutch, Lombard, Jew, &
Turke ;
But speakes not any of their tongues as yet,
For who in five months can attaine to it ?
Short was his time, although his booke be long,
Which shewes much wit, and memory more strong :
An yron memory ; for who but he
Could glew together such a rhapsodic
Of pretious things? as towers, steeples, rocks,
Tombes, theaters, the gallowes, bels, and clocks,
Mules, Asses, Arsenals, Churches, gates, Townes,
Th alpine mountaines, Cortezans and Dutch clownes.
What man before hath writ so punctually
To his eternall fame his journeys story ?
And as he is the first that I can finde,
So will he be the last of this rare kinde,
Me thinks when on his booke I cast my eies,
I see a shop repleate with merchandize,
And how the owner jelous of his fame,
With pretious matter garnisheth the same.
Many good parts he hath, no man too much
Can them commend, some few Pie only touch.
He Greeke and Latin speakes with greater ease
Then hogs eat akornes, or tame pigeons pease :
His ferret eies doe plod so on his booke,
As makes his lookes worse than a testie cooke.
His tongue and feete are swifter then a flight,
Yet both are glad when day resignes to night.
He is not proud, his nature soft and milde,
His complements are long, his lookes are wilde :
Patient enough, but oh his action
Of great effect to move and stirre up passion.
Odcombe be proude of thy odde Coryate,
Borne to be great, and gracious with the State ;
63
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Lionel Cran- How much I him well wish let this suffice,
field. j_j- s b 00 k. e kegj. s hewes that he is deeply wise.
Explicit Lionel Cranfield.
Incipit Joannes Sutclin.
John Sutclin. T T T^Hether I thee shall either praise or pitty,
VV My senses at a great Dilemma are :
For when I thinke how thou hast travaild farre.
Canst Greeke and Latin speake, art curteous, witty,
I these in thee and thee for them commend ;
But when I thinke how thou false friends to keepe
Dost weare thy body, and dost leese thy sleepe,
I thee then pity and doe discommend.
Thy feete have gone a painfull pilgrimage,
Thou many nights dost wrong thy hands and eyes
In writing of thy long Apologies ;
Thy tongue is all the day thy restlesse page.
For shame intreate them better, I this crave,
So they more ease, and thou more wit shalt have.
Explicit Joannes Sutclin.
Incipit Inigo Jones. All Mol. Mag.
Tho. Cor.
Inigo Jones. /^\Dde is the * Combe from whence this Cocke did come,
\J That Crowed in Venice gainst the skinlesse Jewes,
Who gave him th entertainment of Tom Drum ;
Yet he undaunted slipt into the stewes
For learnings cause ; and in his Atticke rage
JTrod a tough hen of thirty yeares of age.
Enough of this ; all pens in this doe travell
To tracke thy steps, who Proteus like dost varie
* This is a figure called by the Grecians r/^cris, that is, a division,
when the word is so divided asunder as here : Odde is the Combe for
Odcombe is the place from whence &c. as in Ennius, saxo cere com-
minuit brum, for cerebrum.
I Beleeve him not Reader. Reade my Apologie in my discourse
of the Venetian Cortezans, p. 270.
64
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Thy shape to place, the home-borne Muse to gravell. Iai ff> Jones -
For though in Venice thou not long didst tarrie,
Yet thou the Italian soule so soone couldst steale,
As in that time thou eat st but one good meale.
For France alas how soone (but that thou scornedst)
Couldst thou have starch d thy beard, ruffl d thy hose?
Worne a foule shirt twelve weekes, and as thou journedst,
Sung Falaliro s through thy Persian nose ?
For faces, cringes, and a saltlesse jest,
And beene as scab d a Monsieur as the best.
Next to the sober Dutch I turn my tale,
Who doe in earnest write thee Latin letters,
And thou in good pot paper ne re didst faile
To answere them ; so are you neither debters.
But sympathize in all, save when thou drink st
Thou mak st a * crab-tree face, shak st head, and wink st.
Last, to thy booke the Cordiail of sad mindes,
Or rather Cullis of our Od-combe Cocke
Sodden in travell, which the Critique findes
The best restorer next your Venice smocke.
This booke who scornes to buy, or on it looke,
May he at Sessions crave, and want his booke.
Explicit Inigo Jones.
Incipit Georgius Sydenham
Brimptoniensis.
Upon the cloying Crudities, chewed in the braines of the George Syden-
Author, and cast up in the presse of the Printer, by the
sole travell and proper charge of CORDATE CORYATE,
my conceited Country-man and Neighbour.
COuld any one have done this but thy selfe,
O thou most peerlesse most renowned elfe ?
Regardlesse of thy stockings and of thy shoes,
Afoote to wander through a vale of woes ;
* The modesty of the Author being such, and his temperance in
drinking, that he sometimes frowneth when a healthe is drunke unto him.
C. C. 65 E
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
George Sy den- Where though thou venturd st for to walke alone
Like Hercules ; so tis of Coryate knowne,
That he did n ere in all his journey flie once
From Dogs, from Beares, from Buls, nor yet from
Lyons.
In France I heard thou meeting with a Boare,
(I doe but tell it as twas told before)
His fearfull head thy sword at one blow cuts
So cruelly, that out came all his guts.
At Heydelberg thou didst bestride the Tunne,
And boldly badst the bravest Dutchmans Sonne
Come sit with thee, and drinke untill there were
Not left a drop for any other there.
An act worthy thee, save who saw thee ride
Twixt Odcombe crosse and Yevill, and bestride
Like Alexander Phillips horse, would sweare
Thy former deeds with this might not compare.
Comming to Venice, thy unmatched feature
Made straight a wench thinke thee a lovelier creature
Then thou thoughtst Mary, when thou knowest, poore
Tom,
How glad thou wert to come and kisse her *bomme,
These things of travellers all make me to say,
That wandering Coryate beares the bell away.
Now being returnd unto thy native land,
Here thou hast drawne with thine owne curious hand
A worke more strangly praised, and by more,
Then ever worke has yet by many a score :
A worke that all the world hath longd to see,
And now send post to fetch this raritie.
A worke that hath long time expected beene,
And now beyond all expectation scene ;
A worke that serves men for all kind of uses,
Mistake me not, I meane not for abuses ;
A worke that none but thine one selfe could handle,
Nor thou have done it without many a candle :
* Her cheeke or hand ; a Chaucerisme.
66
PANEGYRICK VERSES
A worke that will eternize thee till God t come, George Syden-
And for thy sake thy famous Parish Odcombe. ham
Explicit Georgius Sydenham Brimptoniensis.
Incipit Robertus Halswell.
HAdst thou bin still in travell, ne re brought forth, Robert Hah-
How great had bin thy praise, how great thy worth ? we
Dame Admiration hath but our true mother,
Peruse this worke, and thou shalt finde her brother.
Explicit Robertus Halswell.
Incipit Joannes Gyfford.
In praise of the Praise-transcending (mine old
friend) THOMAS CORYATE.
IF any aske, in verse what soare I at ? John Gyfford.
My Muse replies : The praise of Coryate.
He, who the immense straight passing over
Twixt sandie Calais, and twixt chalkie Dover,
With observations strange doth edge you on,
To steale the fruits of many a region.
And teacheth, without travaile, how to travell,
O re spuing billowes, and o re gavlling gravell.
Mount then Pierian Birds, or proudly strut,
In praise of s braine, more fresh then freshest nut.
Again, for old acquaintance.
Wit now or never helpe me to renowne
The oddest Combe that Od-combe ere did crowne :
The wonder of this age, which doth admire
How Travell, Wit, and Art do all conspire
To make him Table-talke, and pointed at,
Filling mens mouthes, and eyes with Coryate.
And yet he is to none he lives among,
Moate in their eyes, nor blister on their tongue,
f Till Doomes day.
67
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
John Gyfford. Nay, he s a spectacle unto all eyes
That makes great things of small (in wordy wise!)
And unto tongues, most idle in their talking,
Hee s like Greeke wine, that sets them still a walking.
Never did Time, since first he held the Sithe,
Produce Art such a Cutter of Queene-hithe.
Wee stile him so ; because that Hithe, or Banke,
Whereon the Queeenes of Art their Pupils ranke
Doth yeeld such Cutters, that is, such as are
The most acute, as thou art (Tom) and spare.
For proofe whereof, loe here a booke as full
Of Cut-worke, as of hot braines is his Scull.
Heere he cuts out with sharpest edge of wit,
(That * blunts when ought that s hard doth meete with it)
Many a faire Collop from the CONTINENT,
To broyle on wits fire, Trav lers to content.
Of France he makes a rasher on the coales :
And casts such salt of wit into her holes,
That he doth make it sav rie to the pallet
Of Pilgrims, travelling with bag and wallet.
But this, (O this) I muse at most (perchance)
That thou should st note such pretty things in France ;
Sith (when I crost it in my wandrings)
I could not see the same for greater things.
But twas my fault such small things to decline,
That might have made my fame as huge as thine.
Of Italy, and all things (every way)
That lie in compasse of five months survay,
He so hath chopt it out to us in parts
(With liberall pen, the toole of liberall Arts)
That, in each part, we see, as in a streame
(O eloquence) the lively face of them.
Munster put up thy pen, thou art put downe
By Odcombs issue ; then come Combe his crowne :
Or stroke him on the head for shewing thee
Each Gallowesf hid in thy Cosmographie.
* Through the subtil finesse of the edge.
f Munster shewes not where one Gallowes stands in all his Booke.
68
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Pomponius Mela, and Ortelius,
Nay, Plinie, with thy bookes voluminous,
Goe, get ye gone, or lowly to him fall ;
For his now Goose-quill farre out-flies yee all.
Well maist thou Germany upon him spue,
That to thy stomacke bitter is as Rue.
Sith he obscures the glory of thy men
That glorifi d thee with their grosser pen :
For he is more particular by ods
In his descriptions, nay, he turnes the clods
Of every soyle to see what underlies,
And that expresseth, be it wormes, or flies :
And, not a Jebit, wheele, nor ought beside
Whereon (for some offence) a man hath di de,
If neere his walke, (nay though farre off it lay)
But too t he went, and doth the same display.
England rejoyce, who now a man hast bred
That is all wit, and learning, save the head,
And that s all Sconce the powers of sense to keepe,
Where they, from wits incursions, safely sleepe.
Then O yee Gallants of the English Court,
Let Coryats travels travaile you with sport.
And as great Alexander, Homer making
His pillowes bolster (for his pleasure waking)
Made sport with him : so, let our Coryats worke
Under your bolster or your buttons lurke
To sport, and pleasure you by night and day ;
For, tis a Sermon better then a play.
Sermon we call it, sith it is a speech
Of all that lay within his travels reach.
Then to this Sermon of those holy things
(For he (among) doth talke of God and Kings)
If any be dispos d t apply their care,
Or that about them rather it would beare,
They shall be sav d from woe, in words of mirth,
By Coryats booke, his wits sole Heaven on Earth.
Explicit Joannes Gyfford.
69
Q 1
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Richardus Corbet.
Richard Spectatissimo, punctisque omnibus dignissimo, Thomae
Corbet. Coryato de Odcombe, Peregrinanti, Pedestris ordinis,
Equestris famae.
|U6d mare transieris, quod rura urbesque Pedester,
Jamque colat reduces patria laeta pedes :
Quodque idem numero tibi calceus haeret, & illo
Cum corio redeas quo coriatus abis :
Fatum omenque tui miramur nominis, ex quo
Calcibus & soleis fluxit aluta tuis.
Nam quicunque eadem vestigia tentat, opinor
Excoriatus erit, ni Coriatus eat.
In librum suum.
De te pollicitus librum es, sed in te
Est magnus tuus hie liber libellus.
Do not wonder Coryate that thou hast
Over the Alpes, through France and Savoy past,
Parch t on thy skin, and foundred in thy feete,
Faint, thirstie, lowzie, and didst live to see t.
Though these are Romane suffrings, and do show
What creatures backe thou hadst, couldst carry so.
All I admire is thy returne, and how
Thy slender pasterns could thee beare, when now
Thy observations with thy braine engendred
Have stuft thy massie and voluminous head
With Mountaines, Abbies, Churches, Synagogues,
Preputiall offals, and Dutch Dialogues :
A burthen far more grievous than the weight
Of wine, or sleepe ; more vexing than the freight
Of fruit and Oysters, which lade many a pate,
And send folkes crying home from Billingsgate.
No more shall man with mortar on his head
Set forwards towards Rome : no. Thou art bred
A terror to all footmen, and all Porters,
And all lay-men that will turne Jewes exhorters,
70
I
PANEGYRICK VERSES
To flie their conquered trade. Proud England then Richard
Embrace this * luggage, which the Man of Men Corbet.
Hath landed here, and change thy Welladay
Into some home-spun welcome Roundelay.
Send of this stuffe thy territories thorough
To Ireland, Wales, and Scottish Edenborough.
There let this booke be read and understood,
Where is no theame nor writer halfe so good.
Explicit Richardus Corbet.
Incipit Joannes Dones.
LOe her s a Man, worthy indeede to travell ; John Danes.
Fat Libian plaines, strangest Chinas gravell.
For Europe well hath scene him stirre his stumpes :
Turning his double shoes to simple pumpes.
And for relation, looke he doth afford
Almost for every step he tooke a word ;
What had he done had he ere hug d th Ocean
With swimming Drake or famous Magelan?
And kiss d that unturn d fcheeke of our old mother.
Since so our Europes world he can discover?
It s not that French which made his || Gyant see
Those uncouth Hands where words frozen bee,
Till by the thaw next yeare they r voic t againe ;
Whose Papagauts, Andouilets, and that traine
Should be such matter for a Pope to curse
As he would make ; make ! makes ten times worse,
And yet so pleasing as shall laughter move :
And be his vaine, his gaine, his praise, his love.
Sit not still then, keeping fames trump unblowne :
But get thee Coryate to some land unknowne.
From whence proclaim thy wisdom with those wonders,
Rarer then sommers snowes, or winters thunders.
And take this praise of that th ast done alreadie :
Tis pitty ere thy flow should have an eddie.
Explicit Joannes Dones.
*I meane his booke. f Terra incognita. | Rablais. || Pantagruel.
man.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Joannes Chapman.
To the Philologe Reader in commendation of our
Philograecicall writer, Topographicall Tom Coryate
of Odcombe.
John Chap- /^\Ur Odde Author hath Comb d his fertile pate
\J Of his knowledge, that thou mightst learne to prate
Of travell, his heeles bearing thy head over
To and againe, from Venice unto Dover
Though thou sit still, and at his simple charge
Paies for thy mirth, more then in Graves-end barge,
Tilt-boate, or the Tavernes thou canst finde :
For here is musicke without noise or winde.
A volume which though twill not in thy pocket,
Yet in thy chest thou maist for ever locke it
For thy childrens children to reade hereafter,
Being disposed to travell, or to laughter.
Nor must thou wonder so much stuffe should come
From nimble Tom Coryats quill of Odcombe.
His little eyes set in his living head
See farther then great eyes in one that s dead ;
So he a Schollar but at Winchester,
Doth take mens eares more then did Stone or Chester.
They could doe nought but rayle, or flatter all ;
His jests and acts are purely naturall,
Stuffed full of Greeke and Latin whipt into him,
Having learning just enough to undoe him,
Unlesse thou pitty on his charge doe take,
And helpe buy of his bookes for thine owne sake.
Here is not stifled much stuffe in few wordes ;
His * little matter many lines affordes.
* Mistake me not Reader ; I therefore call it little, as having relation
to the shortnes of the time that he spent in his travels, viz. five moneths,
in which short time though an ordinary traveller would have written but
little ; yet if you reade his book, you may perceive that in that short
space he found matter enough to affoord many lines of Observations to
his country-men.
72
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Buy then, and passe not by the writers glorie, ]ofin Chap-
That for thy sake hath penn d this learned storie ;
Wherein he hath three travels undergone,
To pace, to pen, to print it too alone.
Few Orators so copiouslie endite,
So thou but reade, he cares not || what he write.
He tels all truth, yet is no foole, nor child,
No lyar ; yet he is the traveller styl d :
But brought no more tongues home then set him forth.
Now let his booke for me commend his worth ;
Of whose full merits I could write much better,
But that I feare to make his worke my detter.
Explicit Joannes Chapman.
Incipit Thomas Campianus.
Medicinae Doctor.
In Peragrantissimi, Itinerosissimi, Montiscandentissimique Thomas Cam-
Peditis, Thomae Coryati, viginti-hebdomadarium Diari- P ian -
urn, sex pedibus gradiens, partim vero claudicans,
Encomiasticon.
AD Venetos venit corio Coryatus ab uno
Vectus, &, ut vectus, pene revectus erat.
Nave una Dracus sic totum circuit orbem,
At rediens retulit te Coryate minus.
Illius undigenas tenet unica charta labores,
Tota tuos sed vix bibliotheca capit.
Explicit Thomas Campianus.
Incipit Gulielmus Fenton.
SHeeloosht arfraindren convay alefill, William
Emnanght elslopen seraght emneghtill ; Fenton.
Ofaghth contraltight erpon emselah,
Prutalt artennah semank semnelah.
|| I meane how much he writes of his Observations in forraine
countries.
73
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
William
Fenton.
John Owen.
In English thus.
FAire starre of learning which on us dost shine,
With beauteous lustre and aspectfull cheare,
Goe lend thy light awhile beyond the line,
And blaze on the Antipodian hemispheare.
Explicit Gulielmus Fenton de Knockfergus.
Incipit Joannes Owen.
To his ingenious and judicious friend, Mr. Thomas
Coryate, in commendation of this learned worke.
An Epigramme.
CHrysippus colwort, Lucian the Flie
Commend in learned writ above the skie ;
Fannius the Nettle, Favorin the Fever ;
Whose praise with Sunne and Moone endure for ever.
In spite of some that seeme, but are not holy,
Erasmus spent much wit in praise of folly.
Some later wits have writ the Asses praise,
O that those lads were living in thy daies!
For if they prais d base things in learned writ,
How much more would they praise thy learned wit?
T
In laudem ejusdem.
Distichon.
Ot liber hie laudes, quot habet vulpecula fraudes
Vix humeris tantum sustinet Atlas onus.
To the Reader, in Praise of this worthy Worke,
and the Author thereof.
THe Fox is not so full of wiles
As this booke full of learned smiles :
Come seeke, and thou shalt finde in it
Th Abridgment of Great-Britains wit.
Explicit Joannes Owen.
74
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Petrus Alley.
CAnnons, Culverings, Sakers, and Sling s, Peter Alky.
Curriers, Calivers, and warlike Ginnes,
Breathe forth your bowels, make the aire thunder
Of Coryate of Odcombe, Somersets wonder.
Sound Trumpets, beate Drums, sing merrily Fife,
Bellonas musicke encouragers of strife.
Awake men of warre, Ulysses appeares
Whose travels report more dangerous feares.
Send in your Sentinels, your Corporals call,
Examine your Serjeants and Officers all.
Nor Captains, nor Colonels, nor Generals great
Have made the like journey, or like retreate.
Twixt Venice and Flushing on foote he went
With one paire of shoes ere they were halfe spent ;
Over hils, dales, valleys, and plaines,
Until his journeys end he attaines.
But what mishap to him there befell,
His booke who shall reade, is able to tell.
His dangerous encounter with cruell Jewes,
His courting a Cortezan in the Stewes,
His perils in Cities, Townes, and Dalpes,
His fearfull climbing of the steepy Alpes ;
Above the clowdes through the middle region,
With adventures more then beyond a legion.
His bickering with the barbarous Boore,
Was one of the least by many a score ;
But his politique handling of the clowne
Is very well worth the setting downe :
And cunning recoverie of his hat
With humble haviour and gentle chat.
Many more hazards he leaves to expresse,
Only to make the volume the lesse.
For if he should all to the presse send,
His booke I doubt will never have an end.
Then Souldiers sit downe, let your ensignes be torne,
Coryate hath conquered you with his shoes but halfe worne,
75
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Peter Alky. Let no man murmur (Pythagoras dixit)
Gainst Coryats attempts, quae supra vixit
Et vivat et regnet with a famous stile,
He and his shoes that trod many a mile.
Explicit Petrus Alley.
Incipit Samuel Page.
To the most worthy Patriot, his most desired friend,
Mr. Thomas Coryate of Odcombe, Gentleman and
Traveller.
Samuel Page. T Sing the man, helpe me ye sacred Nine,
A A fitter taske for you to undertake
In your owne numbers and immortall line,
His numberlesse deservings to partake
To his own natives, whose expecting eye
Now stands wide open for his historic.
Drinke your springs drie you Heliconian Dames,
Here s worke for nine such nines to write his praise,
Whose variable eye his Odcombe fames
For strange ingrossements made in so few daies.
Put all your wits distillement in your pen
To doe him right that shames all other men.
No curious ambition moved our friend
T exhale the secrets of a forraine state,
He scorn d to make a tongue or two his end
To come a dipthong home ; it better sate
With his projection and intendements wise,
To turne his Microcosme all into eyes.
His eyes on all have set all eyes on him,
Whose observations past, whose present pen
Whose future circlings of this globe, will dimme
The wondred glory of all other men,
And give the world in one synoptick quill,
Full proofe that he is Brittaines Perspicill.
76
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Goe on brave goer, and grave writer write ; Samuel Page.
Thy farre-sight eye, and thy long-hearing eares
Shall prompt thy tongue to speake, thy Pen t indite
Thy Ulyssaean travels of tenne yeares.
Thine is thy gentrie, and thy vertue thine,
But thy experience (Brittaine saith) is mine.
Thy first walke was the surface and outside
Of some choyce rarities in stranger earth :
Thy second travels promise farre and wide
Of greater wonders yet a nobler birth :
Thou didst but shave the lands thou saw st of late,
Thy future walkes will them CX-CORIATE.
Explicit Samuel Page.
Incipit Thomas Momford.
WE11 may his name be called Coryate, Thomas Mm -
Not of the outward plet or hairie skinne,
But of the heart or very Cor of wit.
For his conceits shew that his head s within
His wit, and in his travels and his works
Most strange adventures & experience lurks.
When he fear d theeves in policy he begs,
To save his purse & himselfe from further danger ;
He did escape the force of rotten egs,
Thrown out by whores upon an innocent stranger.
Upon the monstrous Tun he sate astride,
In all these things his wit was soundly tri de.
His worthie deeds can never be exampled,
That in a stable lodg d himselfe all night,
Ventred his bones with wild jades to be trampled,
And there endured many a bloodie bite,
Our English travellers with all their brags,
Cannot compare with Mr. Coryats rags.
How much are we bound to him for his paines,
That for our sakes as plainely as he can,
77
Thomas Mom-
ford.
Thomas
Bastard.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Writes all these things, not for the hope of games,
But to the capacitie of an English man.
He might as well have set us all to seeke,
If (as he speakes) he had writ his mind in Greeke.
Explicit Thomas Momford.
Incipit Thomas Bastard.
PUt downe, put downe Tom Coryate
Our latest rares, which glory not ;
Since we thy spials did peruse
Fraught with the quintessence of newes.
On several subjects thou has grated,
Of men, of bookes yet unrelated.
There s nothing left for traveller,
Nor for the timmest Cavalier
For table talke, in my poore sense
Thou put s downe all intelligence.
The like of things as thou hast noted,
Nor is, nor was, nor shall be quoted.
Nor in the chanting Poets theames,
Nor in the wisest sickmens dreames :
Nor in the bookes of Bacon Friar :
Nor in Herodotus the lyar :
Nor in the mud of Nilus thicke,
With wormy monsters crawling quicke.
To thee give thanks for thoughtlesse skill,
Reportes which never dropt from quill.
Which could st if thou would st underborne it,
Have spoke of state, but thou didst scorne it.
Thou hast seene Kings, there is no doubt,
But wisely didst thou leave them out.
Choosing by judgements ayme to hit,
What all have mist for want of wit.
Whilst snow on loftie Alpes shall freeze,
And paint the dales rich butterflies,
Thy name shall live, nor be forgotten,
When Sivil Oranges be rotten.
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PANEGYRICK VERSES
And thou shalt weare our English Bayes, Thomas
And surfeit yet not die of praise.
Explicit Thomas Bastard.
Incipit Gulielmus Baker.
The Anatomic, dissection, or cutting up of that great
Quack-salver of words, Mr. Thomas Coryate our British
Mercuric.
TO praise thee or thy worke (which is the moddell William
Of most the wit enskonsed in thy noddell) Baker.
Were madnesse ; since the Poets of our daies
Run giddie in the circle of thy praise.
When thou wast borne, some say, & all do thinke,
The urine that thou mad st, was perfect inke.
Cosmographers bespoken have thy head,
(The eares first pared off, and polished)
For a terrestriall Globe : and Coryate
Thy shall serve to be a Promontorie at
Nicest exactnesse : precious is thy life,
When arts and nature for thee are at strife :
So full of joviall glee, that men hereafter
Shal terme thee eldest Son to wrinkled laughter,
Better than Rhubarbe purging melancholy,
One that hath got of words the monopoly :
That evesdrops a phrase, and like a spie
Watcheth each bumbast word, as it doth flie.
His presence is more grateful unto all
Then a new play, or on some festivall
Strange squibs and .fire-works, which do clime the skies,
And with their glaring sparkes mate vulgar eyes.
Tis thought if longer he in England tarries,
He will undoe cooks shops and Ordinaries.
For who, to save a dinner, on him steales,
Forgetteth hunger, and out-laughes his meales.
He knew and felt the Boores, yet was not boorish,
He new and felt the whores, yet was not whorish,
79
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
William As Phoebus in his full of noone-tide pride,
Baker. p ass i n g through muddie clouds, doth pure abide,
He is a gemme most worthy to be hung
And worne in choicest eares : but his blown tongue
With talke sets ships agoing on their waies,
When they lie bed-rid, and becalmd on seas.
Upon this unmatched worke, the true hieroglyphicke of
that observative, and long-winded Gentleman Thomas
Coryate.
OUr travelling frie, liquorous of Novelties,
Enquire each minute for thy Crudities ;
And hope, that as those haddocks tooke refection,
Cast from thy sea-sicke stomacks forc t ejection,
And straight grew travailers, and forsooke our Maine,
To frolicke on the grav ly shelves of Spaine :
So they by thy disgorgement, at their will
Shall put downe Web, or Sir John Mandevil.
For such an itch of travell is begotten,
(To the states good, and thy praise be it spoken)
Thy booke shall vent the kindome better far
Then erst the Irish or Low countrie war.
Here native Graces carelesly do lurke
Skorning Arts borrowed dressings : and thy worke
Simple as truth, not artificial!,
But like thy selfe naked, and naturall.
Yet here a riddle is, will pose the wise,
Tom speaketh truth, and yet was full of lice.
And for his volume, this I dare to say,
When he did make this worke he did not play ;
For such huge meritorious paines he tooke,
That if he be sav d, twill be by his booke.
Explicit Gulielmus Baker.
80
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit To
A Wake thou Cocke of great renowne,
And crow the praise of Odcombes towne,
For breeding such a worlds wonder,
Whose writings move the ayre to thunder.
Thou art the Theefe of travellers treasury,
By bartering thy wit for extreme usury.
Which is as fine as cobweb lawne,
And runneth like the streame of Dawne.
Thy Goate-like sense the ravisher of fame
Hath parcell-gilt thy memory and name.
Thy inventorie of thy braines endevours
Hath plumed thee with the Peacocks feathers.
Which made thee flie to learne our newes,
And brought thee home from Venice stewes.
Where Emilia faire thou didst fro st-bit,
And shee inflamed thy melting wit :
Thy braine like Baldus doth ebbe and flow,
But fixed is thy wit by standing in the snow
To keepe out the Connies from leaping the wall,
Which proves thee a Priest of the Order of Ball.
Thou art the Syren that those inchaunt
That with their eares thy Muse doe haunt.
Thou art the Phcenix that in the wagtailes nest was borne,
Whereby thy birth high mounted hath thy home.
If thou (sweet Tom) such praise must have,
What then must he that got the knave ?
But let him be as may bee,
Thou art his hony and hony-combe, men see.
Explicit To
[Incipit Josias
c. c. 8t F
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Josias Clarke.
Anagramma in nomen Authoris Thomas Coriatus.
Hoc totus amaris.
Josias Clarke. T TRbes egregias vidisti Cosmopolita,
\^J Corporis aut animi quis mage quaeso labor ?
Vidisti, & calamo tradis memoranda fideli,
Hoccine vicit amor, vicerit anne labor?
Vicit amor patriae, permiscens utile dulci,
Seria, describis tincta lepore, tua.
Nomen & omen habes idcirco, Hoc TOTUS AMARIS,
Digna notanda facis, digna legenda notas.
Explicit Josias Clarke.
Incipit Thomas Farnaby alias Bainrafe.
Thomas 01 aSta-TTTafj.ei tj OaXepovs veov eiapivoia-iv
Farnaby. AfvOecri \ei/u.u)va.$ /3a/a /neXiarcra Tpe^ei,
E /c re poScov QV/J.OV re Spocrov fj.vira.a-a (3e(3pi6e
PavTiG-Oevra a-KeXtj vtKTapeov /u.e\iTO9.
Toios VOVVT ISwv KojO/aro? T acrrea
TOUT apa SaiSaXeov icqpiov evOereet.
The same in English.
IN verdant meadowes crown d with springs fresh pride
The painefull Bee tastes every fragrant flower ;
His thighes full fraught, on nimble wing doth glide
Home, to store up his wealth in hony bower.
From travailes strange, so Coryate late come home,
With flowing Nectar filles this hony Combe.
LYcurgus, Solon, and Pythagoras
Have by their travails taught learned Thomas,
That an Ulysses is not borne at home,
But made abroade. Wherefore he leaves Odcombe,
And the Transalpine countries visits. Where he
By horse, by cart, on foote full many a wearie
82
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Journey endur d, with curious observation Thomas
Noting the lives and manners of each nation.
Whence with wing-footed speede making returne, all
His right and left adventures in this journall
Hath Gobled up in hast. And simply true
Shames not to write how he at Sea did spue.
There shall you reade of woods surpassing Arden,
Clowd-touching hilles, Alcinous Paris Garden.
Strange Butter-flies. His Circe neate and mundula
Pelting the Greeke in his Venetian Gondola.
But past the besieging of his she Pergamo
An Irish lodging takes with jades at Bergamo.
Of Epitaphes and Letters he cites volumes,
Measures Pyramide steeples and high columnes.
Scapes the Dutch Boore, th Irus or Cyclop
At Heydelberg bestrides the monstrous *ts Cadh.
Which with dimension trine justly TYE Madadh.
In briefe from Venice he to Flussing hobled
With no more shirts then backs, shoes seldom cobled.
Which shirt, which shoes, with hat of mickle price,
His fustian case, shelter for heards of lice
(Like some world-circling ship, or silver shield
Of Macedons, or trophey of fought field)
Hang Monuments of eviternall glory, at
Odcombe, to th honour of Thomas Coryate.
So that when death his soule and body sever,
Bell-weather fame shall ring his praise for ever.
Explicit Thomas Farnaby alias Bainrafe.
Incipit Gulielmus Austin.
HOw shall my pen describe thy praise, William
Thou only wonder of our daies ? Austin.
Since tis a taske that best befits
Our Poets chiefe, I meane the Wits.
I wish, since I to write am bent,
My style as high as those in Kent.
83
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
William B ut s h a i} j p ra i se thy booke or person ?
The gravest lines of learned Gerson,
Or smoothest verse e re came from Ovid,
Unable is to tell us of it.
For none can do t mong st living men,
Just as it is but Coryats pen.
To him alone belongs the glory
Of all yee see written before yee.
To him that farre and neere hath travaild,
Gone, and retourn d, his wit ungraveld ;
Slep t in his clothes, like westerne Pugge,
Sans Monmouth cap or gowne of Rugge ;
And now for Trophey of rich price
Hangs up his garments full of lice,
Which heretofore like weedes of proofe
Served him to keepe the cold aloofe.
When as he past the Jesuit parts,
Who were not able with their arts,
And all their arguments to finde
One hole to pierce his constant minde.
But conquering still along did passe,
Nor could they all make him an As-
Sassinate of his Prince or Peere,
For still his conscience kept him cleere.
But if his purpose do not varie,
He meanes to fetch one more vagarie.
To see before his comming backe,
The furdest bounds of Prester Jacke.
When going on I hope hee l worke
All Christendome against the Turke.
And then unyoake his weary teame
In China or Jerusalem.
Oh may he goe, that they may there
Admire his wit as we do heare.
Whose Chastity and Temperance
Italic knowes as well as France.
A Cortezan or Curteous one
He hates like Puncke of Babylon
84
PANEGYRICK VERSES
He never learn d of bright Apollo, William
The Dutch Garraus or German Swallow. Austin -
Nor never have I heard him noted
For drinking drunke with herring bloted.
Learning s his love, and he a Scholler,
In Greeke and Latin doth extoll her ;
By whose pure helpe and sacred art,
(Which he long since hath learn d by heart)
Hee l guard him selfe if foes inviron,
As well with verses as old yron ;
And sting a man with Inke and Paper,
More Satyre like then with a Rapier.
And now of late a booke hath writ
In praise of learning and his wit.
From Odcombe doe his Muses flow,
Then must there Come Odde trickes I trow.
The famous booke of Mandevill
Tell not of things so strange and evill,
Of jests, mistakings, and misprisions,
Of Pagans, Jewes, and circumcisions,
Of Tombs, Sepulchers, dead mens bones,
Of Epitaphes, of stockes and stones,
And how in Venice at a supper :
But why should I thy praises slubber?
Since thou thy selfe in lines of worth
Hast writ it downe and set it forth
At thine owne proper cost and charge,
As the Church-wardens doe their large
And spacious windowes in the Church,
Where schoolboies boms are breetcht with burch.
Besides thy front showes not a little
Thy rare conceit. For in thy title
Whole sholes of Gudgins gaping skip
To catch thy larges from the ship ;
And dance for joy in hope to winne thee,
Because they feele ther s somewhat in thee.
Nay more than this thy very picture
Seemes of itselfe to reade a Lecture
85
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
William Betweene three comly Virgins plac d,
Austin. Figuring the Countries where thou wast.
Italie diet, wine from France,
Germanic gives thee utterance.
The world ere long on fame shall raise thee,
Then what neede my poore pen to praise thee ?
Yet ere I end, Pie prophesie,
If any shall like thee flie hie,
And touch Pernassus in discourse
With flying pen like winged horse :
Thy name above shall him renowne.
For all the wits about the towne
Shall honoured Laurell on him set,
And call him second Coryet.
And thus adiew, since time doth barre us
I take my leave, Thine usque ad Aras.
Explicit Gulielmus Austin.
Incipit Glareanus Vadianus.
De THOMA CORYATO Odcombiensi apud Britanno-Belgas
cive, homine Heteroclito & Anomalo, atque Planeta
extra suum Zodiacum erratico, Legenda plumbea.
Glareanus A "p^a virumque cano, nostris qui raptus ab oris
Vadianus. ^-^ Armoricosque ; sinus rostratis navibus intrans,
Multa tulit fecitque miser ; longoque peracto
Terrarum tractuque maris, per inhospita mundi
Littoraque, & rigidis loca multa impervia saxis,
In proprium tandem rediit : fessusque viarum
Consedit, repetens luctus tristesque labores.
Hemistichion hoc sic Anglice reddendum censent Critici, viz. (I sing
the harmelesse man) ut ille olim, [Oratio pro Archia poeta] A praier for
the Arch-Poet. Si quasratur, quomodo in dictione (dp/xa) includatur
[harmelesse] notandum est postremum a esse o-reprjTiKov popiov, atque ita
implicare (harmlesse vel without harme :) Si ulterius quaeratur quare
privativa haec particula quae prasfigi debet, postponitur, sciendum est in
voce perinde ac in re notare velle Authorem Coriaticam Hysterologiam.
86
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Quos dum commemorat, pleno & * mendacia folle Glareanus
Spirat, Magnatum mensas condire secundas Vadlaniu.
Suevit, & immodico pulmonem extendere risu ;
Unus moeroris Medicus, laterum unus Aliptes,
Unica Theriace quae noxia toxica pellens,
TLdvB b<ra /mev a"jr\dy^voi(TLv ev/crraTat aXyea Travel.
Postquam conscendit navem, portuque solutus
In mare monstriferum ventorum irremigat alls,
Protinus hie Pelagi & Telluris inutile tpondus,
Sarcinaque ipse sibi, ructat, singultit, & udis
Prospiciens oculis late evpea vwra OaAdera-q?,
" De corio Coryate tuo nunc, inquit, aguntur
" Judicia, 6 Odcomba vale, mulctralia, mactra,
" Armamenta mei ruris ; mutasse dolemus
" Cymbia pro cymba, en in remos ramus abivit :
" Arbor in antennas & malos, hortus in aequor,
" Mobile pro fixo ; pro terra, tergora Ponti,
" Pro clivo clavum teneo, pro mergite merges .
Dumque haec conqueritur, stomacho quatiente cerebrum,
Nauseat, & nutat, tussit, screat, oscitat, aeger
Arquatusque vomit quantum stabula alta ducentis
Apta bobus mittunt steriles laetamen in agros.
Compellat socios subito Navarcha stupentes,
Tollite sublimem, totumque immergite ponto.
otrcra yap dv6pu>7T(av K\vjei KUKO. Trai/ra OaXdcrcra,
Atque ita perlotum vicino in littore sistunt.
Convalet Antaeus, duplicataque robora sumit.
Egreditur, tactaque semel tellure, repente
Inde velut Xerxes inflixit verbera ponto,
Et jussit cohibere minas, compescere fluctus.
Turn porro perrexit iter, cinctuque Gabino
Induit interulam croceo medicamine tinctam
Sexipedes contra vermes, cimicesque rotundos ;
* Nimis me perstringis mi Glareane. Arbitraris enim (sed perperam)
illud usitatum adagium in vernacula nostra lingua, esse verum. Travel
lers may lie by authoritie.
f Scio te alludere ad illud Homericum, ITWO-IOV a^^os apovpys. Sed
non mihi arridet tua allusio.
8?
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Glareanus Quam per tot menses pedicoso in corpore gessit,
Vadianw. j n ma t r i s puer efformarier alvo.
Balteus injectus pugili latus alligat ense,
Ense Medusaeum quali caput abstulit olim
Perseus, huic Harpe nomen : vel quale sacravit
Pausanias ferrum quod Myrtalis usque vocatum est.
Hoc unum intererat, Coryatidi quod sua *Morglai
Non acies, non cuspis erat, sed plumbea lamna
Nescia bellorum, vaginae & pacis amatrix,
Hanc non Herculeum pectus, non dextera vibrat,
Brachia fulta toris, validis neque mota lacertis,
Sed vir Cervinus, volucrique fugacior ullo,
Perpetua glacie cujus prsecordia frigent,
Tergaque qui gladiis potius quam pectora vertit.
j^mulus Alcidae meruit
Clamari titulo, sed non e
Ut cui nee vestis nee velamenta superbis
Apta sedent humeris, pedibus neque mollis aluta,
Ocreave aut suras solitus vincire cothurnus,
Empta sed a verpis Judaeis byssina diplois,
Calceus aut soccus quern supra fibula mordet ;
Et bene suppactas soleas cui subula junxit,
Hirtaque seta suis docti cerdonis ab arte.
Non alio hie Goozman jumento fortiter usus
Viribus infractis Gallos penetravit & Umbros,
Victor Hyperboreos populos superasset & ultra,
Si non audisset gentem feritate tremenda
Torpentes mactasse asinos ad Apollinis aras.
Flexit iter, tumidum guttur miratus ad Alpes.
Longa per Insubres tenuit via mollis euntem.
Morantemque diu, multumque & multa morantem,
Dives ager fructu, generosa vite, ficuque
Explevit pingui mensa, fluidisque racemis.
Ante etenim generis gentisque oblitus, & exors
Ipse sui decoris, mendicos inter, agyrtas,
Erronumque greges, perhibetur ad oppida circum
* Gladius Guidonis Warwicensis.
88
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Ostiaque a populo *stipem petiisse viritim, Glareanus
Furfure contentus, siliquis, & pane-secundo,
Quacunque incedit, pedibus retinacula solvit,
Fertque sub axilla soleas, ut rusticus agnum,
Visurus claram (sic spes est) Sandaliwtin,
Dum Cimicus, Cynicus, pede nudus asymbolus, excors,
Calcat Apenninum per devia lustra ferarum,
Qua rudunt Onagri grunnit arnica luto sus,
Agnoscit generis positas in pulvere plantas
Bestia quaeque sui, simul & vestigia lambunt.
Nam Coryate tuo Cervus, Lepus, Ursus, & Urus,
olidusque caper, corio clauduntur in uno.
Hinc loca contuitus qua brachia porrigit aequor
In terrae gremium, cingitque amplexibus arctis ;
Spectat ubi Venetos urbs inclyta ditat & ornat,
Quae procul in saxis extructa a margine terrae,
Inconcussa natat turrita in gurgite salso.
Pro portis illi est Nereus ; pro moenibus aequor ;
Prata, maris campus ; plateae, pons ; cymba, caballus.
Hue convertit iter, portasque ingressus, hianti
Ore stupens, oculis circumspicit omnia limis,
Miratusque, gradum sistit ; secumque locutus
Nil ultra est, inquit ; Gades hie sunto laboris :
Erroris monumenta mei hoc in littore ponam.
Venit ad illuviem populi, putidumque lupanar,
Scortorumque greges, nimiumque ibi fortiter haerens,
Cereus in vitium, capitur fmeretricis amore.
" Quam sic aggreditur ; Medea, Empusaque mundi,
" O sexus cremor une tui, tremor une virilis,
*Valde erras mi Glareane; semel enim dun taxat in peregrinatione
mea stipem emendicavi, idque occasione quadam inusitata impulsus.
Quod turn hieroglyphice in Itinerarii mei frontispicio, turn etiam in
libri mei contextu disertis verbis expressi, viz. 465.
Insulam Sardinian!, ita dictam ob speciem quam habet pedis &
calcei humani.
fHic etiam poetico tuo more figmenta cudis, & rem vehementer exag-
geras, Vadiane ; nee istam meam ad meretricem a Vadiano meo excogi-
tatam oratiunculam jam subsequentem aliter quaeso (Lector) existimes
quam rem omnino fictitiam.
89
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Glareanus Liliaque & lolium, tu spica & spina, silexque,
us " " Motacilla salax, & plena cruoris hirudo :
" Quae quia te matulam purgandis renibus offers,
u
(i
" Italus, & Calaber, Siculus tibi seruit, & Afer :
" O lux cruxque hominum, naturae Ens mobile, Res, In-
" Dividuumque vagum, Transcendens, classe reponi
Quod nequit, & noles, nisi compede vincta, teneri.
Mot KuTTjCK? apyvpoire^a, cru /txol poSoSaKTvXos >jw \
" Sume parallelum me nunc tibi, sume Colurum,
" Ipse tibi Centrum, Circumque ferentia dicar,
" Si mensa dignere tua, dignere cubili ;
"* Julius & Paulus pacto annumerabitur isti.
" Ilia refert contrra, Balatro, barathrumque macelli,
" Cumanumque pecus, furfurque & furcifer idem,
" Vapulo, Vappa, floces, & olivae lenis amurca,
" Quis furor est ambire meos vage castor amores ?
" Non mea sic lodix, nitidi neque culcitra lecti
" Tarn vili prostant ; Tibi sin marsupia turgent,
" Ingredere, & strumam facile vomicamque levabo.
Succedit tecto ; cui sic lepa nequiter infit :
" Turde malum tibi nempe cacas, viscoque teneris
" Ipse tuo : Bulgam ponas, tumidamque crumenam,
" Exibis levior, nee sarcina tanta gravabit.
" Quorsum haec drachmarum grando, nullius in usum ?
Ponere cunctantem, baculo bene fustigat, aede
Exturbatque sua pluvia lotioque madentem.
" Inclamans, cite pes, fuge Dactyle, nee tibi tardi
" Injiciant remoras Spondaei, aut claudus Iambus.
Quodque unum potuit, meretrix, Valedicit amante,
Et blandita breves versus cantillat eunti.
Animule, vagule, blandule,
Quos nunc abibis in locos?
Pallidule, rigide, nudule,
Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos.
Mene deseris petulce?
Mene praeteris subulce?
Pergin ire per Britannos?
* Paparum numismata.
90
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Ebrios per Alemannos? Ghreamu
c .1 Vadianui.
bcythicis premi prumis,
Corporisque tot ruinis?
Cursitare per culinas,
Latitare per popinas ?
Pulices pati nigellos,
Homines ubi misellos
Lictor suevit alligare,
Loris terga perfricare.
Ergo mihi ne sit male,
Coryate vale, vale.
Sic post Iliaden, aestumque, ^Etnamque malorum,
Et per Odyssaeam gravium leviumque laborum,
Unctus, & emunctus, variis functusque periclis,
In patriam remeat peregrinis moribus auctus,
Hyberno bombyce scatens & lende Brigantum.
Atque ita sandaliis sacro laqueare repostis
O *Crispine tuo, crepidarum qui regis artem,
Et qui mustricolae monstras sutoribus usum,
Clarus in Odcombse pago, mage clarus in ipsa
Metropoli Regni, decantatusque per urbis
Compitaque, & vicos, camposque, viasque, domosque,
Fit Procerum risus, jocus Aulae, fabula vulgi.
Ad Curiatiorum familiar abortivum
Embryonem,
Thomam Coryatum.
TErgeminos inter fratres e Curibus ortos,
Romanes totidem qui pepulere Duces ;
Quisque suum, in pugna praeceps, & anhelus in armis,
Hostis mortiferum vulnus ab ense tulit.
Tu genus 6 Coryate tuum deducis ab istis,
Inflexoque parum nomine, nomen habes.
Degener hoc tantum, quod honor tibi vilior alga est,
Nee quassita manu, sed pede parta salus.
* Crispinus sutorum & Cerdonum divus Tutelaris.
9
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Glareanus De cute, de corio pernox & perdia cura est,
Vadianm. yj x tamen i n toto est pectore mica sails.*
Cum sic particulam divinse negligis aurae,
Corporis obveniat jam coriago tibi.
A Declaration of Nereus prophesies touching the
Fall of Glassenburie Abbey, and the rising of
Odcombe, by two fishes, the Whiting and
the Pilchard to the Tune of Pastor cum
traheret per freta navibus.
SOme Barde a bird of Merlins ayrie
Of Classen Abbie had forespeld
That it should stand, and not be feld,
Till Whiting over it did ferrie.
Whiting a Monke, vassall to Rome
For treason meant against his King
Upon the f Torre in a roape did swing,
And so fulfild the Wizards doome.
Of Odcombe it was said of yore,
That it in darkenesse long should sit,
Unknowne to men till unto it
Should come of skalie Pilchards store.
Tom Coryate made all this good,
Borne on a shole of herring frie,
As once, poor groome, half wet, half drie,
On Dolphins backe Arion stoode.
The II Country Boores dasht with the matter
Began on him to skance awry,
* Verum est salis Armoniaci, aut si quod est ejusmodi.
This is one of the Oracles that Sybilla Cumasa stitched up in her
leaves. And therefore, Credite me vobis folium recitare Sybillas.
f A Terrasse or Mount of earth neare Glassenburie.
\ This prophesie is yet to be scene in one of the Tavernes, as you
travell upon via lactea, where Erigones Dogge chased Arctophylax his
Beare so far North, that they were both frozen into fiery starres.
|| This is no jest, but res feliciter gesta ; for upon a noverint universi,
he recovered a hundred Marks. And is now matriculated among those
to whom God sendeth good fortune.
92
PANEGYRICK VERSES
But he with bill in Chancery Glareanus
Shot them cleane through twixt wind and water.
Paules chaine for joy did stretch and yawne,
Saint Marie Overies shot the bridge,
And gald-breech fame rode post bare-ridge
To spreade the newes on Antwerpe Pawne.
The *Pleiade of Poets fell a quaffing
At Hippocrenes fountaine head,
London her selfe fell sicke abed
Surfeited on a jole of laughing.
And as the purple-wing d King-fisher
Sitting upon a willow stumpe,
For a poor minnow in doth plumpe,
And eates her raw, yer one can dish her.
So nimble Tom, the traveller Trip-goe,
Who feasting fasts, and sitting walks,
And waking dreames, and silent talks,
Whose spirits alwaies stand on tip-toe ;
Whose minde on travels still indockt,
Eates Observations by the eyes,
Hath spu d a booke of Crudities,
Which Vulcans forge will not concoct.
And as about the time of f Easter,
T enrich the towne and trade of shipping,
The winde which evermore is skipping,
Is said to come and dwell at Chester :
So Tom the jaile from Ilchester
(To grace his towne out of pure love)
Will by replivie soone remove
To Odcombe, now cald Pilchester.
*The seven stars of Greece are by Isacius reckoned to have beene,
Theocritus, Aratus, Nicander, Apollonius, Homerus Tragicus, Andro-
maches Byzantius, and Lycophron. Which are easily put downe by our
Pleiade of English Poets, Chaucer, Sir Philip Sidney, Spencer, Daniel,
and those others who have made their Diatribes upon Tom Coryats
Parva naturalia.
t Prov. At Easter the winde is at Chester. Because it is good for
Ireland.
93
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Glareantu
L Envoy.
Let the Hurlie-Burlie Fate
Requite thy love with lasting hate ;
Long live, late come to thy enterring,
Nor flesh, nor fish, nor good red herring.
And thou O Odcombe laugh and tickle
To see thy Pilchard in his pickle,
Who late in Court, both wet and shrunck,
Lay close embrined in a trunck.
Francis.
Asne-Bucephalaeosis ; ou Recapitulation & Sommaire du
gros fatras du Sieur Tho. Coriat.
Les poetes a leur Muses.
C Est assez, belles Muses ;
Bouchez les escluses,
Al Aganippee :
Ou pour leur lippde.
Les Poetes grenouillent,
Et puis y gazouillent
D une extreme rage
Leur dous chant ramage.
Eux faisans leur Feste
Au coq porte-creste :
Et lavants la teste
A la lourde beste :
Ont perdu toutes-fois
Et leur charbons & bois,
Leur Peine excessive,
Savon & lessive.
Leur rimes roulantes
Et carmes coulantes,
De belle cadence
Comme sault en potence.
Sus doncq, belles Muses
Bouchez vos escluses,
Car Tom, le bon drole,
Ha jove son role.
La farce est finie,
Tai toy, Poesie.
Ital.
Risposta delle Muse.
TAcete matti ; che messer Thomasso,
D un Mevio e fatto un Torquato Tasso ;
II cui spirto gentil en un batter d occhio,
Trascorre dal capo, fin al ginocchio ;
94
PANEGYRICK VERSES
I piedi dan salto, la testa capricci, Glareanus
Quelli fan il camino, questa i bisticci
Povero viandante chi preso ne lacci
D amor, se ne tor no coper to di stracci.
Chi per no tener piu sale in Zucca
Che Cavallo di Bergamo, 6 hue di Lucca ;
Partissi sciocco, volgendosi pazzo,
Del mondo il scherzo, trastullo, e solazzo.
Espannol.
Concierto de los entrambos.
EA pues, acabense los chistes y pullas,
Cantada la missa queden las casullas.
El Chronista Thomas pone fin al travajo ;
Despues de averse mostrado badajo :
Y dicho donayres y mil disparates,
Que hazen ventaje de muchos quilates
Aquantos han escrito. Quien vende tal mosto,
De poca cosecha haga su Agosto.
Y digan los ninos ; Tata, madre, coco,
He aqui passa Tom tonto y loco.
Explicit Glareanus Vadianus.
[Incipit Joannes
95
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Joannes Jackson.
John Jackson. Can it
Be possible for
A naturall man
To travell nimbler then
Tom Coryate can ? No : though
You should tie to his horne-peec d
Shoes, wings fether d more then Mer-
Cury did use. Perchaunce hee borrowed
Fortunatus Hatte, for wings since Bladuds time
Were out of date. His purse he hath to print
What hee did write, else, who had read of thee, O
Wandering Wight? Who else had knowne what thou
Hast felt and seene, where and with whom ; and how farre
Thou hast beene ? Ere thou to Odcombe couldst thy Tro-
phyes bring ? Thy hungry prayses in his Egge I sing,
At thy request, else in another fashion I would
Have pointed at thy commendation : Thy other
Heliconian friends bring store of Salt, of
Pepper, and Vineger sowre, to furnish thy
Italian Banquet forth, whereby is
Plainly shown thy wondrous worth.
Feast Coryate, feast the world
Still with thy travel, discharge
The Presse, and care
Not then who
Cavell.
Explicit Joannes Jackson.
96
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Michael Drayton.
A brief Prologue to the verses following. Michael
Drayton.
Deare Tom, thy Booke was like to come to light,
Ere I could gaine but one halfe howre to write ;
They go before whose wits are at their noones,
And I come after bringing Salt and Spoones.
MAny there be that write before thy Booke,
For whom (except here) who would ever looke?
Thrice happy are all we that had the Grace
To have our names set in this living place.
Most worthy man, with thee it is even thus,
As men take Dottrels, so hast thou ta n us.
Which as a man his arme or legge doth set,
So this fond Bird will likewise counterfeit :
Thou art the Fowler, and doest shew us shapes,
And we are all thy Zanies, thy true Apes.
I saw this age (from what it was at first)
Swolne, and so bigge that it was like to burst,
Growne so prodigious, so quite out of fashion,
That who will thrive, must hazard his damnation :
Sweating in panges, sent such a horrid mist.
As to dim Heaven : I looked for Antichrist
Or some new set of Divels to sway hell,
Worser than those that in the Chaos fell :
Wondring what fruit it to the world would bring,
At length it brought forth this : O most strange thing ;
And with sore throwes, for that the greatest head
Ever is hard st to be delivered.
By thee wise Coryate we are taught to know,
Great, with great men which is the way to grow.
For in a new straine thou com st finely in,
Making thy selfe like those thou meant st to winne :
Greatnesse to me seem d ever full of feare,
Which thou found st false at thy arriving there,
Of the Bermudos, the example such,
Where not a ship until this time durst touch ;
c. c. 97 G
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Michael Kep t as suppos d by hels infernall dogs,
Dray ton. Our Fleet found there most honest courteous hogs.
Live vertuous Coryate, and for ever be
Lik d of such wise men, as are most like thee.
Explicit Michael Drayton.
Incipit Nicholas Smith.
Nicholas r I A Was much all Country wits to overshine;
Smith. A At Court, where there are hundreds just like thine,
How found they thee? how keepe they thee? except
As Rome being told that onely whilst she kept
The target fall n from heaven, her state should grow,
Made many like, that none the right might know :
So, to possesse and keepe thee, precious man,
They make themselves as like thee as they can.
Hence flow those verses. In this (Tom) appears
Thy greatnesse, Thou art judged by thy Peers.
Explicit Nicholas Smith.
FINIS.
98
PANEGYRICK VERSES
I Am persuaded [Reader] thou wilt censure me for a
most absurd writer, to adde unto these precedent
verses that have the word Finis subscribed unto them,
more Panegyricks upon my booke. Neither indeed can
I altogether free my selfe from an imputation of some
absurditie committed herein. But let this I intreate thee
a little excuse the matter, that after all these former verses
were printed, I was most importunately perswaded by
them that have no small interest in me, to adjoyne these
ensuing unto the rest, by way of a supplement or overplus.
Therefore seeing I could not conveniently give the repulse
unto the Authors of the verses following to insert their
lines into my booke : take them I intreat thee in as good
part as the former, especially seeing many of them doe
expresse [besides much merry matter] very elegant and
wittie conceits.
Incipit Laurentius Emley.
These verses immediately following were lately sent me Laurence
by a learned Gentleman of Magdalen Colledge in Emley.
Oxford : who though he never saw me, hath vouch
safed to grace my booke with his Encomiasticks.
To the never-enough wondred at
Mr. THOMAS CORYATE.
ITching desire hath caus d us long to know
Thy face (deare Coryate) admired so :
Which that we might the better view at ease,
The Pencill speakes Vera effigies.
But, let th ingraver know, it is not true,
Since of thy minde it gives us not the view.
It well may shew the draught of flesh and bone,
But that may be applied to many one.
The Minde of Man is it most glory beares :
Since by the minde himselfe himselfe appeares,
99
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Laurence To shew thy minde, thy selfe hast thought it meet
Emley. ^ Q ma j < . e us mos ^ beholden to thy feete :
Thy feete, whose soles employment who so mocks,
Doth ill, for it appeares that they wore sockes.
For tis discoverd by the sweete effect
That thou to keepe them sweete didst ne re neglect.
Thy feete sought forth what thy faire fist describes,
God shield those hands from chilblains, feete from kibes.
Let those be vext with such that private lurke,
And suffer shoes, sailes, Printers to want worke :
But thou the friend of Artes, manure thy wit :
Thine Odcombe live in thee, not thou in it.
Harsh was the handling of the halberd-swaine,
Who grutched grapes to thy divinest vaine ;
And little knew the threatening turbant-slave
The grace that thy returne to us should have.
Though we may doubt much of the Pencils grace
That drops but lowsy matter from thy Case.
Faire-flowry France, and full-gorg d Germany,
With their third sister sweet-lipt Italy.
Loath for to leave him whom they held so deare,
Sweete company with thee to us would beare.
But being fixed that they cannot move,
They send with their faire face, imprest their love :
And Germany, since thee she needs must misse,
In kind remembrance blowes thee a full kisse.
Then if thou please more Countries yet to see,
Thou shalt finde thousands more in love with thee :
In love with thee, whom thy digested bookes
Will make as well knowne as thy carved lookes.
There shalt thou finde many an Horse or Asse
To helpe thee, that thy Chariot may passe.
There shalt thou find many a double droane
Which under thy wits burden oft shall groane.
But, though thou travell through the spacious round,
Let not thy Impe, thy Babe, thy booke change ground.
Though thou discover strange lands by thy wit,
Let them send hither and discover it.
IOO
PANEGYRICK VERSES
For pitty tis but that the world should know Laurence
That tis thine owne deare Babe that thou lov st so,
And the true braine-bred child of Coryate,
As Pallas was begot of Joves owne pate.
Thus Coryate, write thy friends as thou maist see,
For none, but their owne foes, will envie thee.
Explicit Laurentius Emley.
Incipit Georgius Griffin.
Thomas Coriatus
Anagramma : -
Tu cos amatoris
vel
Tuta cos amoris.
COs es amatoris ; quis non probat ? esset amator
Si quisquam, exemplar Te petat ille suum.
Cos es amatoris, nee tantum hoc, cos es amoris ;
Nam tibi fautrices tot, quot habes, dominas.
Et bene succedant cum tot (Coryate) puellae,
Cos & amatoris cos & amoris eris.
Explicit Georgius Griffin.
Incipit Joannes Davis Herefordiensis.
In the lowd, alowd, or well deserved renowne of our John Dams.
Britaine-Ulysses : his present worke, together with a
description of the particulars of the Vinet, Title-page,
or Frontispice.
IF Art, that oft the learn d hath stammered,
In one *Yron head-peece (yet no hammer-head)
May (joyn d with Nature) hit Fame on the f Cocks-
combe ;
Then, tis that Head-peece that is crown d, with IPOd-
combe :
* Because like Yron it is strong to containe the remembrance of
so many deere Observations.
t A metaphore for the head.
|| Crownd together with Odcombe for producing him.
101
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
John Davis. For, he hard Head (and hard, sith like a Whetstone
It gives wits edge, and drawes them too like Jetstone)
Is Caput mundi for a world of schoole-tricks,
And is not ignorant in the learned st tricks.
H hath scene much more then much, I assure yee,
And will see New Troy, Bethlem, and Old-Jurie :
Meane while (to give a Taste of his first travell,
With streames of Rhetoricke that get Golden-gravell)
He tels how he to Venice once did wander ;
From whence he came l more witty then a Gander :
Whereby he makes relations of such wonders,
That Truth therein doth lighten, while Art thunders.
All Tongues fled to him that at Babell swerved,
Lest they for want of warme Mouthes might have sterved ;
Where they doe revell in such Passing-measure,
(Especially the Greeke wherein s his pleasure)
That (Jovially) so Greeke, he takes the 2 guard of
That hee s the merriest Greeke that ere was heard of :
For, he as t were his Mothers Twittle-twattle
(That s Mother-tongue) the Greeke can prittle-prattle.
Nay, of that Tongue he so hath got the Body,
That he sports with it at Russe, Gleeke, or 3 Noddy.
For his Invention, in his Bookes rare 4 Brass-face
Is scene the glory of it, that doth passe 5 Grace.
The 6 first doth shew how in a shippe he sailed,
When out of England he (go ing) tra vailed :
For, as he notes him selfe (and right well noteth)
No man goes out of England but he boateth :
Where he (halfe ore board) spralleth like a Paddocke ;
And spues into a 7 Whales mouth called a Haddocke.
1 The word (more) for the reason of the excellency : and Gander
for the Rimes necessity.
2 He pleasantly preserves it in pristine purity.
3 Games at Cards, whereby is meant all manner of sports.
4 The Frontispiece graven in brasse.
5 Excels the grace of all other fore fronts or Title pages.
6 The first shewes how he sailed out of England in a ship.
7 Whale by the figure Hyperbole, or rather Meiosis.
102
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Right o re against it, there is scene 8 th Apparell John Davis.
Which he did weare when he found out the Barrell
Of Heydelberg : shoes, stockings, hose, and dublet,
With so much of his blood as fils a goblet.
Dropping in Creepers from his Travels Trophic ;
Lice He not stile them, lest thou should cry, O fie.
But, that which is most wondrous to consider
Is, one so leane so long should be their feeder :
And that the Clothes which he went out with all too
Should serve him and the Lice (which were not small)
too
Till his returne, with but a little patching,
When s Rags (like catch-polles) greedy were in catching :
So, like an Israelite in Desert wast-land,
His 9 Weedes held out till he had fully trac t-land :
And for a Monument to After-Commers
Their Picture shall continue (though Time 10 scummers
Upon th Effigie) to make Eyes delighted
With that which by no Art can be more sprighted ;
And shew the marvell of this n Metaphysicke,
That would have fil d some Trav ller with the 12 Tyssicke.
And so t would him have done, but that his Senses
Were 13 senslesse in pursuit of Excellences.
Then (from that Trophey to descend a little)
Yee see when he his Gorge with 14 Grapes did vittle,
Was out-rag d by a Boore, who did abhorre it,
Till Tullies golden sentences paid for it
Disburs d by Coryats Tongue, which did so trolle it
That Cicero him selfe could not controlle it :
8 The second shewes his over-worne apparell in his travell.
9 His clothes which like weeds were now good for nothing but to be
throwne away.
10 Canker or rust the Brasse whereon it is graven.
11 Because they hold out (as it were) supernaturally.
12 Going so bare.
13 Desire of glory made his mind not feele what his body felt.
14 The third shewes how he fed upon the Boores grapes without leave.
103
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
John Davis. Which fill d the Boore with wonder to the Wozen,
That made him vomit sweet wordes by the dozen
In Toms deare praise, while he most like a Wag-with
Tooke of his Grapes as much as he could wag-with.
Then yee descend, where he sits in a 15 Gondolow
With Egs throwne at him by a wanton Room-be-low ;
Who lookes so masculine as shee were some Boy,
Playing the pleasant Tomboy with her Tom-boy.
Within which Egs was sweetest water powred,
That he to her might thereby be allured :
Which shewes the manner how he went in Venice,
When as he tooke surveigh of that strange Sea-peece.
Then doe yee fall upon a goodly 16 Woman,
Which, for her stature, you would take for some man
Drest in th Italian fashion, and doth stand for
Faire Italic it selfe, and so is scand for :
Who on the one side serves for a supporter
Of that 17 long Round, wherein he is made shorter
By halfe (at least) then his length naturall,
And lookes as if he danc d a Caterbrall,
With Ruffe about his necke set on so finely,
That you would sweare he nothing doth supinely.
On th other side the Round stands one as tall too,
Drest like a French-fern, in a farthingall too,
Upholding (as the other did) the Rundle,
Whose clothes, about the Bumme, tuckt like a bundle,
Doe make her stand for France ; and so she may well,
For shee hath Stuffe to make her Doo and say well,
Then, O ascend, before your last ascending,
And looke on that that s farre above commending.
A dainty 18 Dame (not dainty of her vomit)
Powres downe upon him (like a blazing-commet)
15 The fourth, shewes his survaying of Venice in a Gondola.
16 The fifth, a goodly woman representing Italic.
17 An Ovall-round wherein hee is pictured to the wast.
18 The sixth a woman ore his head with the tunne of Heydelberg
on hirs, casting upon him, representing Germanie.
104
PANEGYRICK VERSES
The streame of her aboundance from her Gullet, J^n Davis.
And hits him on the 19 Noddle, like a Bullet,
From whence it glanceth all those Fruits to water,
That in his way he gather d, like a Cater ;
Which Damsell, with her free ebriety,
Doth lie, or sit, or stand for Germany.
Upon her head shee weares (beneath it smirking)
Of Heydelbergs the fore-remembred 20 Firkin.
This, this it is that s Creame of all Invention.
And farre surmounts the milke of wit s intention.
Then vaile your Eye againe that is aspiring.
And see the 21 Horse and Cart he had for tyring.
On one side stands (below) an Horse, or Hobby,
Or Hobby-horse (I mean no Hawlke cal d Hobby)
Sadled and bridled ready for his travell,
When he his owne feete spurgald had with gravell.
On th other side the 22 Picardinian Chariot
Which some call Cart (that 23 carted wandring Coryat)
Whence, if we looke up, first our eye is meeting
How Coryate from the 24 Jew is Gentilly fleeting,
Lest if he staid he should be made a Praepuce ;
And so of men, the only womans Refuse.
From whence looke up, and next shall your beholders
See Coryate carryed on the Atlas sholders
Of such strong 25 Porters as do helpe men over
The Alpes within a Chaire without a cover :
All which (exprest so farre past wits regality)
Doe shew the pow r of Coryats singularity.
19 A familiar name for the head.
20 By the figure Tapinosis.
21 The seventh the horse he sometimes used in his travell.
22 The eight, the Picardicall Cart he travelled in.
23 That is, conveyed him from place to place.
24 The ninth shewes how he fled from the Jew lest he should have
circumcised him.
25 The tenth shewes how he was carryed in a chaire over or on
the Alpes.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
John Davis. Then, on the top, but yet without the Vinet,
He lyeth at the heeles of many a 26 Ginnet,
As then in stable stoode on points of litter,
To shew his lodging was as hard as bitter :
For, both together he (most senslesse) feeles there,
And so on litter lyes he by the 2r heeles there,
Right o re against these proude brave Spanish stal
lions
Is seene how he hoth begge of Theeves 28 Italians,
With cap in hand, and lowly genuflexion,
Lest they should sincke him till the Resurrection :
So, shun d the fatall handes of the Banditie
With wit that lackt not all of most almightie.
Hold Muse, no more, unlesse thou wilt be martyr d
Within his world of fame that ne re was quarterd :
For, if thou seek st in numbers to containe it,
Twill make thy browes sweate, and thy nose to raine
it.
But though we cannot in this Frontispice
Number thy Stations, yet we may count thy lice,
Which (Tom) from one that (roaving) had no refuge,
Drop downe, to make the Glories flood a Deluge.
Within which Flood my Muse (like a Diudapper,
In Fames wide mouth wagging my Pen, her clapper)
Is so ore-whelm d, that as shee strives for more breath,
The Flood engulphes her, and her wordes devoureth.
So fare well Tom (shee saies) great Natures wonder,
I lye thy fame a thouzand fathoms under :
For, it prevailes above the Alpes (high Mountaines!)
But when it ebbes, He spring in Castall Fountaines.
All to bewet the earth with streames of praises
Running to none but thee in fluent Phrases ;
26 The eleventh shewes how he lay on litter at the horse heels in
the stable of some Inne.
27 Horse heeles.
28 The twelfth and last shewes how he begg d of Italian theeves,
lest they should have robbed him.
106
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Untill I make a second Inundation, ]ohn Dav 15 -
To wash thy purest fames 29 Coinquination ;
And make it fit for finall 30 Conflagration,
So to prevent fell Envies indignation.
Explicit Joannes Davis Herefordiensis.
Incipit Richardus Badley.
In Praise of the most observant Traveller, Mr. Thomas Richard
Coryate of *Odcombe, and of his most Axiopisticall
Hodsepory.
DEare friend, (this attribute he le not deny,
That thy greate Booke shall in the Churchyard buy ;)
If to admire, and to commend were one,
Thou should not neede this poore Encomion.
For thy stupendious paines so mee amaze,
That (as thy selfe) I can do nought but gaze :
Not wondring, thou observd st so much by day,
As that thou writ, and couldst beare all away :
This is thy praise, some travellers lament
Their better notes to have bene from them rent.
Yet in thy booke the module is descried
Of many a Citie, and Castle fortified,
Of Townes, of Turrets, and their Trenches deepe,
Of Rocks, of Rivers, and the Mountaines steepe,
The Camps, where Romane fields were fought,
And where their lives so dearely many bought.
If Schedules of this nature had bene found
About Sir Politick, twold have made him swound.
The fruits of France thou no where dost conceale,
Nor those of Germany thou mean st to steale ;
29 Alluding to that love which men bore to women in the old world,
sith like love our Author beares to men ; for whose love and commodity
he hath put himselfe to this cost and pains.
30 Burning in flames of glory and wonder, as in the judgement-day.
*Vide Cambd. Brit. An ancient village within the County of
Somerset, about six miles from another village called Coscombe.
107
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
<"H?- - .
Richard Th Italian rarities are here depainted,
Badley. g o are fa & [ r Alpes, on which thou never fainted.
In briefe, thy book s an universal! Chart,
Wherein the works of Nature, and of Art,
So prodigally there thou dost containe,
That thou shalt heare, [No Nigard of thy paine.]
Upon that subject those immortall Rimes
(Which shall outface the endlesse bounds of times)
Thy honour d friends compos d, I cannot prize,
Whether thy name, or their s t immortalize :
In which their candour and syncerity
Towards thee, will shine to all posterity.
Howse ver yet they at thy labours jeast,
I justly thinke th art greatest in the least :
For many things (I heare those friends report)
Do more augment my wonder, then their sport.
And pray, what Traveller s so observative,
That doth us not of worthy things deprive ?
As the French fashion of their gallowes rare ;
The Switzers Codpeece, with their Nuns so faire ;
That curious cage of birds in Amiens towne :
Their Foole at Whitsontide, who put thee downe.
But oh brave pictures! France, or Italy
Whether, think st thou, deserves the Mastery ?
There was that master-piece of such perfection,
Apelles need not scorne t have laid th complexion :
Wherein proud Art (Dame nature to excell)
Within an Ale-house painted had full well,
The pilfring pastime of a crue of Apes,
Sporting themselves with their conceited Japes
About a Pedler that lay snorting by,
Not dreaming of their theevish knavery ;
Whose packe unclosed, his trinkets on the twigs
Some fasten, whilst the others dance their jigs,
This piece did please, and so content thy eye,
Thou judg st it worthy immortality.
Another picture was that Non-parell.
Which a Venetian shop had then to sell,
108
PANEGYRICK VERSES
In which luxurious Art did so surmount, Richard
That now the French piece thou didst Apish count,
And this the Paragon, which did reveale
The lively picture of a Should r of Veale.
This did so farre excell you of the Apes,
That well it might compare with Zeuxis grapes ;
And thou those Birds deceived might st parallell,
If thy then-wambling stomacke truth would tell.
The Ducall Gallowes there (I heard) you saw,
Which twich him up, when he offends their law :
These are beyond those screwed ones of France,
Where men do passe away, as in a trance.
Thy bitter journey o re the clowdy rockes,
Deserv d the sweetest wines Piemont up-locks :
For he no sweet hath merited (they say)
That hath not tasted of the sower by th way ;
Yet had that wine an undeserv d effect,
Which did so on thy hands and face reflect.
That stone at Padua, whereon Bankrupts sit,
Oh into England th adst transported it.
As he his brazen torment first did prove,
So mightst thou this have hanseld, for thy love.
Briefly, for triall of a religious lurch,
Thou nimbd st an image out of Brixias Church.
Yet cannot I suppresse, without disgrace,
The love thou bare thy Natalitiall place.
For in the midst of thy most Alpish waies,
When ruinous rocks did threat to end thy daies,
No doubt, thou could st have wisht thyselfe at home,
To live, and lay thy bones in sweete Odcombe.
But after thou hadst past those furious pikes,
Which feare and terrour to the Pilgrime strikes ;
And did the Garden of our world descrie,
Within the wombe of fertill Lombardie :
Immortall Mantua could not steale thy love,
Nor once from Odcombe thine affections move.
Wherein, Ulysses-like, thou didst display
Such love, as he bore to his Ithaca.
109
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Richard What should I speake of that rare Patience,
actley. When thou wast forced (with no small expence)
To exercise it on those Hackneys vile,
Which rather would lie down, then ride a mile.
Thy continence no Lais could diffame,
For thou earnest forth, unburned of the flame.
But oh ! how providently didst thou cant,
When thou didst play the crafty Mendicant?
This tricke (they say) did stand thee in stead,
Or else thou might st have hopt without thy head.
Now if these notes may immateriall seeme,
To them that know rightly how to deeme,
I pardon crave in thy behalfe and mine,
If in our judgements we have miss t the line :
For with thee in this point I sympathize,
Oft vainer objects do my sence surprize.
But whither Muse? two long Mid-sommer daies
Are not enough for to depaint his praise :
Thinke thou not neare his industry to come,
Who in five moneths saw most of Christendome :
Reserve thou rather thy Poeticke vaine
Him to salute, when he returnes again
From that victorious voiage he intendeth
To th utmost confines, where the round world endeth,
Or if Dame Nature hath some world in store,
Which never was discovr d heretofore,
Yea thither our Columbus with his lance,
Thy conqu ring colours (O Odcombe) shall advance.
BUT ;
I feare that whilst I sing his praises hie,
Many will taxe me for prolixitie :
If for this fault my Coryate pardon give,
I will not them desire mee to relieve.
For of thee onely (O Polypragmon great)
I pardon for my exorbitance intreat :
The sesquipedall belly of thy Tome
Pleading for mee, to stoppe the mouth of Mome.
Explicit Richardus Badley.
no
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Incipit Joannes Loiseau de Tourval
Parisiensis A.
Elegie encomiastique, a Maitre Monsieur Thomas Jean
Coryate, dont 1 heureuz Anagramme est, Ca, ho,
Maitre.*
TOus ces Gallans esprits de qui P Artiste Muze
Change un Sot, en Socrate, en Febus, une buze,
Qui d un fat, d un batard, d un animal sans yeuz,
Font un superlatif des homines & des Dieuz ;
Sur les maigres seillons d une folatre arene,
Perdent bien a credit & leur tenis & leur peyne.
Mais puisqu a dire vray, je ne suis pas meilleur
Que tant de gens de bien, ce m est beaucoup d honneur
De danser avec euz, comme le bal me meine,
Et, quoy qu humble & de loin, suyure leur belle veine,
Silz sont folz, 1 estre aussi ; les consciencieuz
Avoir noz beauz ecrits n en jugeront pas mieux :
Mais le grand f Sibolot que nous voulons decrire
Est bien tel voirement qu on n en peut assez dire ;
Et certes ne croy pas qu onques du monde 1 oeil
Ait veu, on puisse voir un qui luy soit pareil.
Vray bon homme, si douz & si plein d innocence,
Que son plus haut savoir luy est comme ignorance :
Nouveau Ulysse a pie, dont les voyages Ions,
Ont bien montre qu il a 1 esprit jusqu auz talons,
Voire jusqu auz Souliers, tant cette ame beniste,
Se delecte d emplir un double cuyr de beste :
Souliers judicieux, Souliers qui clair-voyans
A force de servir au JMonstre de noz ans,
* Reste le mot de trois lettres.
f C est pource qu il est parent des Sybiles, en Grec, ou bien a lenuy
de ce grand Filosofe qui florissoit en France, souz Henry III, a la grand
joye de toute la Cour, & etoit ordinairement vetu de couleur de
Laurier.
\ Pource qu il est rare en tout savoir ; ou bien, rare de savoir ; ou
bien de savoir rare ; ou bien, qu il a le savoir, ou le cerveau rare ; Ou
bien, pource qu il nous montre, ou plutot desmontre a vivre.
in
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Jean Loiseau Quoy qu aver maints ennnuyz, maints trouz, maints
* TmL peussages,
Ne 1 ont jamais voulu quitter en ses voyages ;
Sages comme loyauz, afin d entrer en part
De 1 honneur qu aujour d huy a leur maitre on
depart,
D estre un jour etalez en son brave Epitafe,
Et au lieu d eperons mis sur son Cenotafe,
Remportans cet honneur vers la Posterite,
Qui lz etoyent Souliers preuz, & de grand loyaute.
Souliers, heureuz Souliers, a qui bien j accompare
De tous ces beauz esprits la brigade tres-rare ;
Car comme ces Souliers en voyages, sejours,
Tavernes, Cabarets, le porterent tousiours ;
Ainsi tousiours quelcun de la bande subtile
Le porte a son cote tout du long de la Vile,
Et, pensans telle fois se sauver a repos
Dedans leur Cabinet, le portent sur le dos :
Et n y a bon repas, bien qu abonde la soupe
Si le Joyeuz n y est pour defray er la troupe.
Voire de telz encor ay-je ouy raconter,
Qui ont tant affecte ces Souliers imiter,
Que ne pouvant si bien de leur peau luy faire offre
Pour en faire chaussure, ilz Pont mis dans un coffre,
Porte, comme un cors Saint, jusque devant le Roy,
Dont le bon homme fut un peu en desarroy ;
Et moy mesme aujourdhuy, tout glorieuz, j attache
Mes vers a ces Souliers & de veau & de vache,
Pour ma tasche d honneur ; car de monter plus bas,
Petit comme je suis, il ne m apartient pas,
Aussi je ne pourrois. Or quant a sa doctrine,
Son savoir mirlifie, digne qu on *lembeguine,
Son livre exuperant, fruyt d un pareil esprit,
la n avienne pour moy qu il en soit trop peu dit :
* Non comme un Enfant, non ; ny comme a 1 hotel de Bourgongne ;
mais les plus anciens & savans avocats d Angleterre portent pour orne-
ment & prerogative une coiffe de linge delie, comme une espece de
beguin pardessouz leur Chapeau.
112
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Jay voulu seulement faire comme les autres, J an Loiseau
7 f-TJ f 1
Pardonnez moy, Messieurs ; Et comme 1 un des votres
A sagement loiie Silvestre on son Bartas,
Je confesse, simplet, que je ne Penten pas ;
Et bien qu onques ailleurs mon nom nay voulu mettre,
Je suis content quil soit y mis en grosse lettre.
Explicit Joannes L oiseau de Tourval
Parisiensis A.
Incipit Henricus Peacham.
Memoriae Sacrum. Henry
Seu calcei Laureati Thomae Coryati Odcombiensis,
Peregrinantium nostri Seculi facile Principis.
Ad Thomam nostrum.
CUr Coryate tibi calcem Phcebeia Daphne
Cinxerit, & nudse Laurea nulla comae?
Insanos mundi forsan contemnis honores,
Ignibus & Lauro es tutus ab * ^Emilia.
Verms at capitis pleni (Coryate) miserta
In calces imos Musa rejecit onus.
[To the
* Authoris amicae Venetas.
C. C. 113 H
W 1
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Henry To the famous Traveller ever to be esteemed the joy of his
Peacham. Somersetshire, Thomas Coryate of Odcombe, professed
enemy to the Gentle-Craft or Mysterie of Shoo-makers.
"Hy doe the rude vulgar so hastily post in a mad-
nesse
To gaze at trifles, and toyes not worthy the viewing ?
And thinke them happy, when may be shew d for a penny
The Fleet-streete Mandrakes, that heavenly Motion of
Eltham,
Westminster monuments, and Guild hall huge Corinaeus,
That home of Windsor (of an Unicorne very likely)
The cave of Merlin, the skirts of old Tom a Lincolne.
King Johns sword at Linne, with the cup the Fraternity
drinke in,
The Tombe of Beauchampe, and sword of Sir Guy a
Warwicke :
The great long Dutchman, and roaring Marget a Barwicke,
The Mummied Princes, and Caesars wine yet i Dover,
Saint James his Ginney Hens, the *Cassawarway moreover,
The Beaver i the Parke (strange beast as er e any man
saw)
Downe-shearing willowes with teeth as sharpe as a hand
saw.
The Lance of John a Gaunt, and Brandons still i the
Tower ;
The fall of Ninive, with Norwich built in an hower.
King Henries slip-shoes, the sword of valiant Edward.
The Coventry Boares-shield, and fire-workes seen but to
bedward.
Drakes ship at Detford, King Richards bed-sted i Leyster,
The White Hall whale bones, the silver Bason i Chester ;
The live-caught Dog-fish, the Wolfe and Harry the Lyon,
Hunks of the Beare-garden to be feared, if he be nigh on.
All these are nothing, were a thousand more to be scanned,
(Coryate) unto thy shooes so artificially tanned :
*An East Indian bird at Saint James in the keeping of Mr Walker,
that will carry no coales, but eate them as whot as you will.
114
PANEGYRICK VERSES
That through thicke and thinne, made thee so famous a Henry
Trotter, Peacham.
And bore thee o re the Alpes, where sidewaies, long, like
an Otter
Thou climb dst and clambred st, there single solie
recounting,
(Another Alcides) thy labours lustily mounting.
And as Alcides did scorne to weare any linnen,
So Coryate shirtlesse did as well as if he had beene in
The bravest Lyons hide, with the taile downe fairly
depending :
But matchless Coryate, since now thy labour hath ending,
And since th art well againe unto thy Country returned :
Thy very heeles by me shall be with Laurell adorned.
In the Utopian Tongue.
NY thalonin ythsi Coryate lachmah babowans
O Asiam Europam Americ-werowans
Poph-himgi Savoya, Hessen, Rhetia, Ragonzie
France, Germanien dove Anda-louzie
Not A-rag-on 6 Coryate, 6 hone vilascar
Einen tronk Od-combe ny Venice Berga-mascar.
Explicit Henricus Peacham.
Incipit Jacobus Field.
OF all the Toms that ever yet were nam d James Field.
Was never Tom like as Tom Coryate fam d.
Tom Thumbe is dumbe, untill the pudding creepe,
In which he was intom d, then out doth peepe.
Tom Piper is gone out, and mirth bewailes
He never will come in to tell us tales.
Tom foole may go to schoole, but nere be taught
Speake Greeke with which our Tom his tongue is fraught.
Tom-Asse may passe, but for all his long eares
No such rich jewels as our Tom he weares.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
James Field. Tom Tell-Troth is but froth, but truth to tell
Of all Toms this Tom bears away the bell.
Explicit Jacobus Field.
Glareanus
Vadianm.
Incipit Glareanus Vadianus.
A Sceleton or bare Anatomic of the Punctures and
Junctures of Mr. Thomas Coryate of Odcombe, in loose
verse called by the Italians, versi sciolti, because they
go like Tom-boyes, scalciati without hose or shoe,
bootlesse and footlesse : Perused this last Quarter of the
Moone, and illustrated with the Commentaries of Mr.
Primrose Silkeworme, student in Gastrologia and
Tuff-moccado.
BEauclerke 1 of 2 Odcombe, Bellamy of Fame,
Learnings quicke Atome, wits glosse on Natures
text,
3 Sembriefe of time the five finger of game,
Ambs-ace of blots, sweep-stake of what comes next.
March-pane of Mirth, the 4 Genoua past of love,
The Graces 5 gallipot, 6 Musicks fiddle-sticke,
1 A shrunke word of two into one, such as are, Hardyknowt, or Hogs-
snout, the name of Pope Sergius. So Atome for Ah Tom.
2 The Arpinum of this second Cicero. A village before Ignoble ; now
by him raised to tenne rials of plate, and of which himselfe is the
Chorographicall Mappe.
3 A musicall note containing foure odde humored crotchets, and
sixteene semiquavers as madde as March hares.
4 He meaneth a pantrie coffin made of paste, in which the white
Blackmoore (as Gusman de Alpharach calleth the Genouesi Moros
blancos) stew certaine powerfull words called parole intoineate to
charme Bridegroomes points nover L esquillette.
5 It is a vessel into which womens teares blended with loves sighes are
distilled through a Serpentine or Crusible into a pure elixir, to cure
Junoes kibe-heele.
6 The Augures lituus or bended staffe, wherewith in the scale of
Musicke men take the Altitude and elevation of a flat from the sharpe in
Chromatique Symphonic.
116
PANEGYRICK VERSES
The spout 7 of sport, and follies turtle Dove, Glareanus
8 Noddie turn d up, all made, yet lose the tricke. Vadianus.
Thou Chesse-board pawne, who on one paire of shoes
Hast trode the foote-ball of this worlds Center,
Discovering places 9 couch d betweene the poles.
Where honest vertue never yet durst enter.
How should I sing thy worth in fitting layes,
With starveling verses of an hide bound Muse,
And crowne thy head with misletoe for bayes,
Unlesse thy 10 knapsacke did new thoughts infuse ?
Such Gallo-Belgicke Mercuries are not chipt
From every billet, nor each axle-tree :
Nature her selfe in thee herselfe out-stript
When she produc d this vagrant Humble-Bee,
Whose buzze hath fild this worlds circled round,
Hing d on the Articke and Antarticke starre,
And whose great fame finds now no other bound
Then from the Magellan strait to Gibraltar.
Whose glorious deeds out-face and fiercely daunt
11 Guzman of Spaine, and Amadis of France,
Uterpendragon, Urson, and Termagant,
Great Don Quixote, and Joane of Orleance.
7 The spout of sport, as a chimney is of smoake.
8 Noddy ego, being Anagrammatized is Don Diego, who was a
famous reader in the Bay of Mexico, where in steed of the seven liberall
sciences, the seven deadly sinnes are publikely read and professed.
9 He meaneth the Gallery of Donna Amorosa the old Countess of
Orgueil in Arabia deserta, which is a meere magazin of verdugals,
whither those courteous Dames called Cortesans (as M. Thomas him-
selfe hath elegantly unshaled the word unto us) that doe enter to barter
or chaffer, elles perdent la vertu, mais la galle leur demeur.
10 He meaneth a soldiers or a travellers trusse, or fardle, or budget,
which the old Romans called mulos Marianos.
11 These stories are found written in the Annales of the ebs and flouds
of the Caspian sea, and in the third tome of the wars between the Milt
and the Splene. Tit. Diaphragma, cap de Rumbis ; whither for brevi
ties sake I remit the Reader. For to set tales upon Fables is as directly
against the Pragmaticks of Spaine, as to weare seda sobre seda, satten
upon silke, or creame upon milke.
117
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Glareanus Ludgate the floud-gate of great Londons people,
Vadtanus. With double doores receives a wight so dapper :
Bell-man and knell-man, gentrie of the steeple,
Do peale thy praise with Rousse & Bow-bell clapper.
Whiles I thy goodly frame do seeke to scanne,
How part to part doth mortise, knit, and linke,
I boulted have my spirits to the branne,
And left my wits fast fettred in the Clinke.
For Tom s a 12 cap-stone, and a turne-spit jacke,
A skrewed engine Mathematicall,
To draw up words that make the welkin cracke
Out of a wit strangly dogmaticall.
Tom 13 is an Irish Harpe, whose heart-strings tune,
As fancies wrest doth straine or slacke his cord,
Sometimes he warbleth sweet as a stewd prune,
And sometimes jarres out of a crackt sound-board.
Tom 14 is the padlocke of all secrecie,
Whose tongue the tell-tale of whats done and more,
Vents out the barmy froth of surquedrie,
By thirteene to the dozen, thirtie to the skore.
Tom s a 15 Bologna sawcidge lovely fat,
Stuft with the flesh of a Westphalian sow,
The shoing-horne of wine, that serveth pat
To make the feeble strong, the strong to bow.
Tom is a 16 twinne, and yet an Odde, and both,
12 This is a terme in the Art Trochelicke or Hydraulick waterworks,
according to which Quintilian saith of an old man that he doth pituitam
trochlea educere : He pulleth up his tough fleame with a Crane and a
Pulley.
13 D. Stapleton hath written a booke de Tribus Thomis. This is a
Tom fit to be comprised in tribus Tomis.
14 I reade in Thomas de Combis of one Thomas, surnamed the sage,
sapient the eight of that name, who for special merite was chosen
Tribune of the wether-cocks of Ipswich, a man nobly and lineally
descended from great Solon, because on one paire of soles he footed
it to Venice.
15 A French Quelque chose farced with oilet holes, and tergiversations,
and the first blossoms of Candid Phlebotomie.
16 Tom in Hebrew signifieth a twinne.
118
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Twinne shoes, odde shirt, and both by combination : Glareanus
Which Odde-twinne-triple-one, to speaken troth,
Hath runne a wild-goose race, a pilgrims station :
This, and all this, is Tom, and yet 17 much more,
A Mandrake growne under some 18 Heavie-tree,
There where S. Nicolas knights not long before
Had dropt their fat axungia to the lee.
The 19 neck-weed-gallow-grasses sapling plant,
A Mushrum startled with a thunder-clap,
Which without noble stocke or such like vaunt
In one nights space grew out of Floraes lap.
Yet for all this, Tom, thou hadst proved soone
Abortive, and a fondling worth but little,
Had not thy sire, the man that s in the Moone,
Oft fed thee in thy youth with 20 Cuckow spittle.
Then treade the steps of th Author of thy birth,
Who once doth every Moneth surround the earth.
Explicit Glareanus Vadianus.
I
Incipit Richardus Hughes Cambro-Britannus
Regi a Pedibus.
Englyn unodl inion.
Candish a Drak i gwendid Ihywiaist Richard
Mewn lhawer aflendid : Hughes.
Dyscaist fwy mewn dwy eskid,
Yr hen gorph, na rhain i gid.
Explicit Richardus Hughes Cambro-
Britannus Regi a Pedibus.
17 He is the Retracian side of Fortunes title Page, who is said
utramque paginam implere.
18 A land-mark neere Excester, disterminating life and death to those
Pilgrims that upon the high waies bid men stand, in steed of bidding
them good-morrow.
19 The herbe knot-grasse, called inGreekeThrotbolarios,or Stopp-wind-
pippion, wherewith they were wont to give the Commonwealth a vomit,
vide Aristoxenum de foraminibus tibiarum. Pag. 44000 paulo post finem.
20 May it please thee Reader to be advertised out of Germany, that
this is nothing else but honie dew, called syderum saliva.
119
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Incipit Thomas Coryatus.
Thomas Thomas Coryati hujus operis Authoris ad Benevolum
Coryat. Lectorem de suo Viaggio, Leonini & Macaronici
Scazontes.
TOV
I Lie ego qui didici longos andare caminos
Vilibus in scrutis, celeri pede, senza cavallo ;
Cyclico-gyrovagus coopertos neigibus Alpes
Passavi, transvectus equo cui nomina, Ten-toes.
Nulla viandanti mihi fit mutatio vestis ;
Non cum pennachis nigri berretta veluti
Bambalea in testa ; nulla est guippona satini
Toscano de more nitens ; sed plena pidocchis,
Et de fustagna squalens pourpointa Milana
Courans espaldas, nee habens paupercula faldas.
Una capatorum mihi paia est, una camisa.
His ego comptus, iter capio, rodeando per acres
Grisonas & Rhsetos, me tessaro-trochlea raptat
Esseda, per foltas sylvas, altasque sierras.
Menses bis binos, valles clivosque supinos
Transegi superans. Video te grassa Verona,
Bergamaque Italise nova Pergama, qua stabulatus
f Succidus urina madui bene lotus equina.
Venegiam ingressus, spaciosam Dive Piazzam
Marce tuam lustro, Mercatorumque Rialtum.
Dumque suis scalmis Golfum mea Gondola verrit,
j^Estu barca Maris nuotat ; novus aestus amoris
jEmyliana tuas subito me truccat ad aedes.
Ulcera bubarum, ferret me paura verollae
Bordellas intrare vetans, & rumor honesti.
Me torret tua bionda Chioma, & tua guancia bella
Purpureas imitata rosas ; duo giglia pura
Morbidae utraeque manus ; Lactis vas, poppa bianca
* Vox admirantis. f Succido. Italice wet, moist.
I Morbido. Ital. Smooths.
120
PANEGYRICK VERSES
Lactis candorem sobrat, lactisque cremorem : Thomas
Crapula me cepit, quare conversus, avorton
Parturii, crudos boccones ore momordi :
Pectoreque evomui, quos nunc submittere stampse
Allubuit : tu lector ave, nostrasque Cucinge
Cruda, tui stomachi foculo, bene digere frusta.
Explicit Thomas Coryatus.
FINIS.
[An Oration
121
Hermann
Kirchnerus
Oration on
Travel.
AN ORATION,
Made by Hermannus Kirchnerus,
A Civil Lawyer, Orator, Cassarean Poet, and Pro
fessor of Eloquence and Antiquities in the famous
Universitie of Marpurg, in the Landgraviate of
Hassia, and pronounced in the same Universitie,
by a Noble Scholler of his, George Haunschildt,
of Furstenfeldt, a Moravian, concerning this
subject : That young men ought to Travell
into forraine Countryes, and all those
that desire the praise of Learning,
and atchieving worthy actions,
both at home and abroad.
F any of you (most noble Auditors) hath
heretofore marvelled what is the reason,
that both in ancient times, and especially
in this our age, there have bin found so
many young men of a most noble and
excellent towardnesse and witte, who
though they could live at home a most
peaceable, pleasant and quiet life in the very bosomes of
their dearest parents, in abundance of riches, in all plenty
of dainties, in infinite delights, in the imbracings of their
friends and kinsfolkes, in the love of their most sweete
countrey, and the happy solace of their owne houses;
yet neglecting all these things, and the most pleasant
fruition of their fathers habitation, desire to goe into a
122
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
certain voluntary banishment out of their native coun- Hermann
tries, and with a valiant and couragious minde, to expose Kirchner s
themselves to the tempests of forraine climates, and to rj a
11- r r i * ravei.
the bitter stormes or fortune ; and to undergoe so many
and so great difficulties, labours and toyles, so many
calamities, misfortunes and miseries, even to the uttermost
hazard of their life and welfare : I will bring the matter
to passe by meanes of this my Oration, which is written
of the incredible utility of travel, and the admirable
sweetnesse thereof, that from henceforth he shall cease
to marvell, or rather, which is the chiefest thing of all, I
doubt not (my fellow Academicks) but that, if according
to your singular benevolence, favour, and humanity, you
will lend me your gentle eares and willing mindes (which
I expect from you) and will somewhat diligently and
attentively weigh the arguments and reasons of my
speech, there is not one of you all which wil not presently
desire, having trussed up his necessaries, and packed up
his fardels, to draw on his bootes, put his riding hat upon
his head, raise himselfe upon his wings, hoise sailes, and
mount on horsbacke (according to the proverbe) and
post the neerest way to forraine and remote Nations ;
imitating Ulysses that most worthy example of travelling,
to compasse the whole circumference of the earth, by farre
Voyages, and with ./Eneas in Virgil, to be tossed up and
downe both by land and Sea. For I will shew, that there
can be no nearer way to the attayning of true wisedome,
and all experience of a civill life, no speedier meane to
aspire to the governement of a Common-weale, no plainer
path to purchase immortality of praise, dignity, honour
and glory ; and in summe I will prove, that in the whole
life of man there is nothing sweeter, nothing pleasanter,
nothing more delightfull then travell.
Wherefore (my gentle Auditors) I most earnestly crave
this of you, that you would affoord this my Oration,
which is as it were a travell of the minde, the favourable
gale of your benevolence, and the faire Sun-shine of your
gracious attention, and yeeld the sayles of your favour, to
123
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann^ the end I may the better accomplish my purpose, and bring
Kirchner i m y course to a w i s hed end. And that which I have first
Travel ^ a ^ proposed unto my selfe (my Auditors) is such a
thing, as may easily be knowne and perceived without
my Oration, or any other mans. For whereas all of us
are to endeavour, as much as in us lieth, that we may
seeme rather to adorne and amplifie, then cast away or
diminish that dignity and excellency, which by a speciall
priviledge is given by God unto man above all other
creatures ; and since such is the infirmity of our nature,
such a darkenesse in abstruse matters, such stupidity of
wit, such dulnesse of minde, such blindnes and slendernes
of judgement, that unlesse there be added unto us a
certaine diligent institution and right information, we
cannot perceive, know, or understand any thing at all in
humane studies, or ingenuous arts, and divine sciences :
Surely I thinke there is none of you so voyde of discre
tion, or ignorant of all these things, when he perceiveth
farre greater and thicker darkenes and mistes in us, then
that the subtility of our wits, and the clearenes of our
mindes can of its owne strength discover and shew it
selfe, which doth not understand, that we ought to procure
our selves abroad and from forraine countries those helpes
and instruments, wherewith the sharpnesse of the minde,
and that force and naturall brightnesse may be stirred up,
polished and instructed : and that therefore from our
tender years, sith that age is most capable of disciplines,
we are to seeke for Masters, use faithfull instructers and
informers of our life and manners, which may correct our
rudenesse, instruct our ignorance, garnish our wits, and
from their most glittering and resplendent light kindle
light & understanding in us, & instill and infuse into us
arts, sciences, & necessary, most profitable, and excellent
learning ; which if we cannot have in our owne pro
vinces and countries, we ought to trace them out by sea
and land, and with all diligence and industry, to seeke
for them like pretious pearles. For that high ruler of
mankind, that supreme and potent Author, & preserver
124
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
of al things, hath by his divine will and heavenly pro- Herman^
vidence so disposed this Universe, and so prudently ^ rcfiner s
.. .,,.*., . 1.111- i i Oration on
distinguished it with that admirable diversity and order, Travel.
that one country is more fruitfull then others ; so that in
one and the selfe same region all & the same things do not
grow : as Arabia is more plentiful of Frankinsence and
spices then other countries ; one Territory yeeldeth plenty
of wine, another of corne, another greater store of other
things ; according to that of the Poet :
Here corne, there grapes more plenteously do grow.
So also those copious and admirable wits, so arts, sciences,
and disciplines, which make us more human, or rather
more divine, are not included in one place, in one province,
or one house ; neither are all found in one man, but are
divided and dispersed throughout the whole compas of
the earth, and a very singular felicity of those things doth
appeare more in some places then in other, even by the
very genius of the place, and by I know not what destiny,
and a certain kind of divinity : & as certain peculiar stars
are fixed in their severall places, so those lights are even
from above given unto certaine countries, and to certaine
Nations, whom they do illustrate and beautifie, that we
see here great praise of eloquence to flourish, there of
more solid Philosophy : here the excellency of the
Mathematicke sciences, there, of Astrology is esteemed :
here the dignity of physicke, there the majesty of the
civill law : and again in another place, the truth of holy
religion, and the purity of heavenly doctrine doth raigne.
If we will be partakers of these such excellent gifts, covet
to enjoy these so great riches and delights, and desire to
be beautified with these so singular ornaments of learning,
we must needs undertake journeyes and long voyages to
those renowned places, wherin this fragrancy and most
heavenly plenty doth harbor. For art useth neither wings
nor feet that it should eyther go or fly unto us, neither
can all these things be knowen by the mute sounds of
books, but we must rather go unto those learned men,
125
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Herman^ know & search for many things, and gather many things
iichnen ^ Qur ^ an j s ig. nt p or good God, what Historio-
Urationon J . > .,, r ...
Travel. grapher can you exemplme unto me, or what credite,
knowledge or experience soever he was, that hath not
for the most part beene personally present at those matters,
which hee hath thought good to commit to the monu
ments of letters that hath not with his owne eyes scene
those places whereof he maketh a description to others ;
that hath not observed the manners and behaviour of
those men, whom he eyther praiseth or dispraiseth ? What
Orator that hath not from all places sought out the very
flowers of languages, and gathered together the art of all
those things wherewith the mind of an Orator ought to be
furnished, and which hath not noted the pronunciation,
gestures, and elegant actions of most eloquent men ?
What Astrologer that hath not observed that high
fabricke of heavenly things in the divers climes of
Heaven, and noted that most swift motion of the Spheares,
and the immutable order of the Starres ? What Naturalist
that hath not sought out the mysteries of nature, and
searched out the admirable variety of all naturall things?
What Physitian that hath not sifted the divers kindes of
humors and diseases, and dived into the force and vertue
of all severall hearbes, the incredible multitude whereof
is distinguished with insatiable variety? What Civilian
that hath not knowen the divers manners of sundry
Nations and people, their customes, Statutes and Lawes?
What Divine that hath not travelled unto those places,
wherein the purity of Religion doth flourish, which hath
not learned besides other necessary artes, the Greeke and
Hebrew tongues, whereby he may the better fight for the
Charter of the everlasting King of heaven, against the
trumpery reliques of Gods desperate enemies, and be the
better able to confute the sophisticall fallacies, and foolish
quirkes of heretiques, that are devised for the deeceite
and overthrow of the godly ? Therefore if thou wouldest
aske counsell of nature her selfe, which is that most
provident and faithfull mother of us all, and wouldest
126
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
demand of her the meanes and shortest way to attaine to Hermann^
divers kindes of learning ; certes she would shew thee no ^ rchner
other then that of travell. Travell, she would say, travell
to Athens, Marseilles, Bononia, Padua, Paris, and betake
thy selfe to other Mart townes of learning, which do every
where flourish. Desirest thou to be instructed in
heavenly doctrine, and aspirest thou to the knowledge of
divine things? follow thou the Church of Christ, still
travelling in pilgrimage ; which because it is not affixed
to any certaine countrey, nor tyed to any one particular
place, but being tossed to and fro after the manner of a
little Barke, with waves and the injuries of tempests,
and driven about in the Sea of the whole world, lives here
and there in banishment ; so that I would have thee learne
subtilty from some Austine, perspicuity from Athanasius,
sweetnes from Gregory, and eloquent learning from
Nazianzen, and some Nyssen. Desirest thou the glory
of wisedome in the knowledge of the civill law, and the
science of the sacred lawes? Goe then into Greece with
those most noble Decemviri of Rome : enquire for Solons
tables : gather the Ordinances of Lycurgus : with Sulpitius
go to the Mutii, and aske counsell of the Papiniani,
Nasicas, Scipiones, and Ulpiani. Dost thou propose unto
thy selfe the praise of learning in the faculty of physick ?
then do thou with Hippocrates, with Galen, with Dios-
corides, with Paracelsus, that were most excellent
Physitians travell into Lemnos, into Arabia, into
Greece ; and as often as thou hast travelled about any
Region, so often I would have thee perswade thy selfe
thou hast read a new leafe in the booke of nature. Dost
thou covet to excell in the Mathematickes, in Astronomy,
in the Optickes, and in the whole course of Philosophy?
Imitate Euclide, of whom we reade that hee followed the
Atticke Muses, being disguised in womens attire, when
it was not lawfull for any of the Megarean men to enter
into the City of Athens. Travell thou to some Pytha
goras, some Archimedes, some Ptolemeus, some Aristotle,
if thou nearest that any of them are revived. Doost
127
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann thou labour to attaine to dignity and honour by eloquence ?
seeke for some Demosthenes, some Isocrates, some
Travel Hortensius, some Cicero. Doost thou apply thy minde
to the study of History? goe then to Livie, if there be
any in the world, with those that are said to have come
to Rome from the farthest Caliz, to heare that milkie
fountain of eloquence. Associate thyselfe with Caesar,
Polybius, and Pausanias, and accompany the Scipioes and
Metelli, even to their Tents and skirmishes, and to the
middest of their warlike conflicts. That this was the
onely way to true wisedome, those auncient lovers of
wisedome knew, whom no length of journeys, no
difficulties of sea voyages, no injuries of tempests could
discourage. This doth witnes that divine Plato, who
having travelled as far as Nilus, purchased the greatest
part of his divine wisdome from the very innermost closets
of Egypt, who searched for all the abstruser mysteries
thereof, with the admirable subtility of his wit, sifted all
the monuments of antiquity with most singular industry,
and entred into the very marrow and pith itselfe of Moses
truth. This doth witnesse that most noble Philosopher
Anacharsis, so famous amongst the Auncients, who having
escaped from the barbarous rudenesse of the Scythians,
and travelled very long journeys, with singular endevour
& alacrity of minde, came to Athens, & there shaked off
the deformed uglinesse of his grosse ignorance and
barbarisme ; whereof he had never quitted himselfe, if he
had preferred his domesticall lurking corners before the
desire of travell. This doth witnesse that great Aristotle,
who by his daily travels purchased himselfe such wisedome,
such learning, such knowledge of true Philosophy, and
such understanding, that you may justly call him the
father of all the Philosophers that ever have beene ; yea
the very sonne and miracle of nature. This doth witnesse
Zamolxis and infinite more, who having travelled from
their owne houses, naked in a manner, destitute of all
better discipline and nurture, and voyde of humanity, have
returned home singularly furnished and adorned with all
128
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
kinde of qualities of the minde, and all such worthy gifts Herman^
as can be incident to a man. Kinhners
TTTMI 1 ^.-111 Oration on
Will you have me produce to you Cicero, that notable Travel.
ornament of eloquence ? who that hee might attaine to that
glory of speaking that he hoped for, travelled into Greece,
and at Athens besides Antiochus, a most sharpe and wise
Philosopher, conversed with Demetrius a Syrian, a most
noble and eloquent master of eloquence, and very industri
ously exercised himselfe with him. After that he travelled
over all Asia, and bestowed the like diligence with the
excellent Orators thereof. Againe after that he sailed to
Rhodes, and now the third time applied himselfe to Molo
that most singular Pleader, whom hee had before twise
heard in Rome ; to the end that now at length he might
with his great industry and diligence supply the defect
of nature, which denied him the instruments of pleading.
Will you have me shew you great troupes of worthy
fellowes, that went out of the City of Rome? For
albeit the Romanes were seated in the principall habitation
of the whole earth, and contained within the wals of their
Citie, as it were an abridgement and Epitome of all
Regions and all Countries ; yet they went to Marseilles
in France and travelled into Greece, and from Athens
returned home adorned with the Atticke learning. For
indeed they considered that all wits, whatsoever naturall
instinct of towardnes they have, do waxe dull and even
die, being included within the narrow bounds of their
domesticall seats, & that there is no dulnes of mind, no
darkenes so great which is not in a manner kindled with
the course of travels, and in all respects made more cleere
and vigorous. But to what end doe I recall your eares
to the statues of ancient men, even to the almost abolished
Images of antiquity, and to dead examples? Why doe
I not rather place your eyes upon these living faces and
countenances, whose sight and cleernes we enjoy? Why
doe I not even with this finger shew you the most noble
fruites of travell in that worthy man Mr. John Ferivarius,
the Rector of our Universitie, who carrieth before us as
c. c.
129
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann^ the Scepter, so also the very Torch or Lampe of all
^fatiotfdn vertues? wno b y his travelles f France, Italy, the
Travel. Netherlands, and survay of other Provinces, hath attained
to very great learning, & such experience of matters, that
hath made him very much commended and esteemed even
amongst strangers. Behold that admirable toppe of
Civilians ; I name thee (most famous Vulteius) upon thee
I convert the minds and eyes of all my Auditors, which
mayest be a living Oration unto us of travell, worthy to
be praysed ; who hast visited France, discoursed with the
Doctors of France, hast travelled over Italy, and disputed
there with Menochius : hast also travelled into Denmarke,
having worthily performed a noble Embassage to the
King. Cast your eyes upon the other most reverend and
famous men that are here present, which have undertaken
very difficult and long journeys for learning sake, and by
the same have attained to that singular knowledge, and
admirable experience of all things, wherewith they do not
onely beautifie this University, and with great praise
instruct us, but also do make famous and renowned
amongst other Nations, our whole Province of Hassia,
and also all Germany, which is our common country. But
if (my noble Auditors) our eyes cannot endure the bright-
nesse of these most glittering lights, that are even dazeled
as it were in the Sun-shining at mid-day : let us propose
before our eyes that most beautifull Theatre of the
Universe, let us behold whatsoever is abroad in the world ;
let us looke into Provinces, see Cities, runne over King-
domes and Empires : surely we shall finde those people
to be rude, slouthfull, incivill, rough, outragious, foolish,
barbarous, voyde of all humanity, civility, and courteous
entertainment, proude, arrogant, puffed up with a selfe-
love and admiration of themselves ; also effeminate,
wanton, given to sleepe, banquetings, dice and idlenes,
corrupted with the allurements of all pleasures, and the
inticements of all concupiscences ; those I say, which have
used no journeys, no Sea- voyages, no travels, which have
not exercised any commerce or intercourse with other
130
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
Nations. Againe we shall perceive those to be of a facill Herman^
nature, modest, courteous, loving, gentle, kind in enter- ^ rc/iners
, , & &. ,. , Oration on
tamment, and by the very bent of vertue inclined to good Travel.
discipline, whose wits the heat of divers travels hath
ripened, the performance of many journeys hath mollified,
and the knowen manners and discipline of other men have
instructed. For who is so wicked, whom so many and
excellent examples of vertue and piety, so many heroicall
exploits of worthy and valiant men, whose lively images
he beholdeth, and the true shining vertue and admirable
beauty thereof will not invite and allure to imitation ?
Who is so unseemly attired, whom the most exquisite neat-
nes in the habits and apparell of other nations, the laudable
elegancy and courtesy in actions and gestures, and the
most sweet conceits in speech will not make more polished,
and refined ? Who is so crabbed, austere, and angry,
whom the humanity, affability, gentlenes, and placability
of our consorts and companions, that communicate with
us in our journeys and Innes, wil not change? Who is
so tender, effeminate, & cowardly, whom the heat of the
sun, cold, snow, raine, hard seats, stony pillows, and such
infinite inconveniences of travels, so many wailayings, and
dangers of theevs, wil not make more couragious &
valiant ? Who is so simple, improvident and incontinent,
whom the subtilty of spies, the wonderful cunning of
Inkeepers and baudes, and the great danger of his life,
will not stirre up to vigilancy, prudence and temperance ?
Who is so hard hearted and inhospitable, whom the
benevolence, benignity, and helpe of strangers wil not
mutually induce to the like offices of humanity? Who
that is tossed with many wandrings and errors, as Dido
was in Virgil, and not ignorant of other folkes miseries,
will not learne to succor those that are in distresse ? Who
is so impious, whom the sundry calamities that offer
themselves to travellers, the labors, perillous saylings,
waves, tempests, momentary casualties of adverse fortune
and dangers ; and againe Gods freeing of them from the
same will not incite to the serious & ardent invocation of
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Herman^ Q oc } s eternal majesty, and to the often celebration and
inhner s p ra se Q f ]^ s k o i name ? Whom will not the most sweet
Oration on * .../,.,
Travel sonets or chirping birds provoke to sing hymnes and
verses to his creator? Finally, whom will not travell it
selfe put in minde of the slippernes, uncertainty, & short-
nesse of this life ? But why should I declare or amplifie the
matter with many wordes? Let us propose the ancient
Grecians as a notable example ; who certainly could never
have attained to so great wisedome and learning, wherwith
they afterward illuminated the whole earth, nor aspired
to that praise of vertue, and glory of dignity, unlesse
having survayed almost all the parts of the world, they
had purchased themselves incredible experience of all
things? These were the first that durst saile in a ship,
the first that in that Argonauticall voyage, adventured to
assay all the narrow arms of the Sea ; the first that tried
al the dangerous Syrtes & rocks, and that skirmished with
the North-east, South-west, and South windes (to use the
Poet Horaces phrase) that they might search out those
golden fleeces, which they knew by fame, that is, the
mysteries of all naturall things, and hidden sciences, and
the very innermost secrets of wisedome. Hither went
those sayles of Jason : hither did those oares and ships
so famoused through the whole world, and praised by the
verses of all ages, bend their course. But why do I not
rather declare the singular commodities of travel in our
owne Germanes? who though they did heretofore but
little differ from the savage fiercenesse of wilde beastes,
wandred in Fennes and Woods after the manner of beasts,
and by a kinde of inveterate hatred, were enemies to
learning : yet notwithstanding they have so much profited
by their travels, that (as Bodin is constrained to confesse,
who otherwise is a man very sparing of the Germane
praise) they seeme to excell the Asiatickes in humanity,
the Romanes in military discipline, the Hebrewes in
Religion, the Grecians in Philosophy, the Egyptians in
Geometry, the Phenicians in Arithmeticke, the Chaldeans
in Astrologie, and finally in variety of trades, all people
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IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
whatsoever. From these did the Italians themselves, Hermann
If* L
which are otherwise most witty and inventive, send for ^ m
._ / j r L Oration on
most cunning artificers, to measure the bounds or their Travel.
groundes. From these did Pope Leo, when he was
disposed to mend the computation of the course of the
Sunne and Moone, call Astrologers, and most excellent
Mathematicians, by sending Ambassadors into Germany,
no otherwise then Caesar did heretofore into Egypt. O
thou excellent travell, and above all things most
laudable ; unto whom not onely nature her selfe,
the mother of us all, but also all the elements, all the
starres, all the windes, and the glorious brightnesse of
heaven doe seeme to affoord their grace and favour, and
to impart their vertue : thee O travell, justly doe we call
that most renowned Schoole, wherein we are instructed in
good artes, sciences, and disciplines, to true wisedome
and learning ; thee doe we truely call the Seminary of
the worthiest vertues, wherewith we attaine to the greatest
happinesse and blisse. You see (my Auditors) how great
and singular benefites and commodities travell doth com
municate to every man ; but if you will deigne to heare
me with the same benevolent attention that you have
begun, I will shew that it doth impart farre greater
benefites to Common-weales. For no man can be fitter
and with greater praise advanced to the sterne of a
Common-weale, no man more worthily and with greater
profite of the Citizens, promoted to those glorious honours
of publique affairs, then he that having before travelled
much and long with Ulysses, hath scene the divers manners
and rites, and the beautifull Cities of many people :
knowen the ordinances and decrees of many Common-
weales : noted their customes : searched their lawes :
sought for the originals and increase of King
doms : scanned the causes of the translations and
overthrow therof : hath observed what is in every Citie
worthy of praise, what fit to be amended : hath learned
what deserveth imitation, in the constitution of their
judgements : considered what is memorable in the
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann^ ordination of their magistrates, in the managing of their
Kinhners counse l s w h a t also in their pleading place, in their field,
Oration on . , . ^ , , , . iL
Travel m tneir ^ enate house, in the regal court ; also what in the
institution of their youth in their Schooles, in their
Temples ; what againe in all their distinct Offices, in their
Tribes, in their Arts, in their services, and manuarie
trades : hath also noted what is worthy of observation in
the pitching of their Campes, the making of their
Trenches, the fortifying their Cities and Bulwarkes ; what
in their Watches, in the mustering of their armies, in the
forme of their battel array, in the ordering of their forces ;
what in their skirmishes, their stratagems, their surprizals
of wals and Cities, and what in the sacking of the enemies
tents. Surely this is the man whom Plato doth call a
Philosopher, who before he came to the administration of
the Common-weale, disputed not at home in his half-
mooned *chaire, of certaine thorny positions of Logicke,
and other captious cavillations ; or made subtle formes of
Syllogismes and Dilemmaes ; or wrote Geometricall circles
in the dust of Archimedes ; or meated the pace of fleas,
as it is in one of Aristophanes Comedies ; or composed
the world of moats, or cast all his care and thoughts upon
the waves of a narrow arme of the Sea ; or in his ^barrell
conteyned a Kings wealth : but, which by traversing the
Common-weales of many Nations, hath searched out all
the wayes and meanes that pertain to a civill life, and the
governing of a humane society. O happy is that Common-
weale, which hath from above gotten some such ruler. O
blessed is that Empire, to whom so happy a Governour
sent downe from the very heavens hath happened. For
this man understandeth what things are to be shunned,
what to be embraced, what doth weaken, dissipate and
overthrow a Kingdome, and what againe doth strengthen,
establish & preserve it. To this end we reade that the
Romans sent their children to Marseilles (which I have
already named unto you) that from a well governed Citie
they might learne those artes that are fit to rule the
* Hemicyclo. \ Or tub.
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
Common-weale. For this cause we reade that Cyrus Hermann^
travelled though yet but a childe, and was sent to King K*rchner>s
A J , , ^. , . T Oration on
Astyages court ; and that Theseus being but a stripling Trave i
did therefore chuse rather to undertake the most dangerous
land journey, then to use the shortnesse of a Sea voyage ;
and we know that Hercules did for that cause travel! over
the whole world a foote, and purchased himselfe eternity
of name. By this meanes have all Cities, all Common-
weales, all Kingdomes and Empires beene established.
For some Nations have borrowed from others good
manners, rites, lawes, statutes, arts and good disciplines.
Lycurgus, when he travelled into Crete and Egypt,
informed his owne Common-weale afterward with the
lawes of those people. The Romanes having translated
the lawes and customes of Greece into their Citie (which
they did by the advice of one Hermodorus an Ephesian
and a stranger) established their Empire. Our Germanes
have borrowed from other nations, and others again from
them good arts, disciplines, lawes, constitutions, and
elegant manners ; as Contarenus, a man of singular
learning and wisdome, when he perceived in our Germany,
that it was not lawfull for every man promiscuously to teach
private schooles as in Italy, but that with great care and
great diligence, and not without publike authority &
publike salaries good men were chosen to those offices,
whose life and maners were well approved, lest perhaps
tender youth might be corrupted by them ; being returned
home into his country, thought it not amisse to perswade
even his Venetians with great praise to entertaine this
laudable custome, as being very profitable to them, and to
receive it into their Commonweale, which is otherwise very
wisely governed. What man, I pray you, could better or
more worthily, or with greater gravity, greater praise,
greater dignity, performe an Ambassage committed unto
him eyther by a Prince or a Common-weale? What he,
who (as the Comicke Poet saith) doth alwaies shroude
himselfe in his house as a lame Cobler? He that did
never put his foote out of his owne countrey soyle ? He
35
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Herman^ that never saw any people besides his home-bred countrey-
Orationon men ^ ^ e ^ at never beheld any other Rivers, other
Travel. Havens, other Bridges, then those amongst whom he hath
alwaies lived ? He that never viewed other Castles, other
Cities, other Provinces, other Regions then that wherin
he was born and brought up ? He that never learned any
other tongue besides his owne? Or rather he, which
leaving his most sweete country dwellings hath travelled
over many strange countries and many nations? hath
observed the maners, lawes, and customes of all men?
hath gotten the knowledge of divers languages? hath
frequented many Princes Courts, many Palaces, many
Assemblies for elections of Magistrates, and the famous
meetings of great and eminent personages? Hath
mollified his rough and rude matters amongst strangers?
hath acquired unto himselfe learning, knowledge, the use
of humane actions, and true wisedome? Who being
familiarly acquainted with all places and customes, knoweth
whither to goe, where to turne out of the way, that he
may not omit the best occasions of atchieving matters for
the good of his countrey, and cast himselfe into danger?
Who finally hath learned how to apply himselfe to the
time, be silent in time, speake in time, observe grave,
illustrious, and mighty men to whom he is sent, converse
gently and courteously with them, modestly and readily
pronounce that which he hath to deliver, and opportunely
to urge and prosecute the matter, that he may receive
answer again ? Or what other Counsellor can a Prince
chuse himselfe, whereby he may be able to helpe himselfe
by the faith, vertue, care, study, & vigilancy of good
counselles, then him who having by his travels gotten the
experience of divers men and many things, and other
knowledge, hath with Ulysses visited Alcinous his Court,
and with Themistocles seene the wealth of the Persians?
Who knoweth with what power, what vertue, what
strength and ornaments every Kingdome doth flourish,
and also knoweth the variety of civ ill employments, offices
and ordinations? Who hath searched out the meanes of
136
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
warre and peace, the helpes and succour thereof? For Hermann
this Counsellor is like that opticke Glasse, wherein not K lrcfin(;r s
onely the space of three or tenne miles, but also of a whole Travel
Province, yea and of the whole world itselfe may be
represented : this is that true watch-tower which Hierome
is said to have wished for, from the which al the Kingdoms
and all the Empires of the world may be scene and viewed.
And to conclude, what Captain of warre is to be appointed
over an army, if not he that hath searched the maners of
other people, their nature and the affections of their
mindes, & hath scene their skirmishes and exercises in
military affaires? Who hath himselfe borne armes in the
field, put an helmet upon his head, worn a brestplate,
drawen his sword & thrust his dart and speare into the
body of his enemy ? Who hath bin in many conflicts,
many expeditions, sieges and battels, & hath tried which
nation is nimblest to make a sudden sally, and to pursue
the flying enemy ; which is readiest to possesse and scale
the wals, which is fiercest to battell, which is stoutest to
entertaine the shocke in the open field, which again is
strongest in the troupes of horses, which is hardiest in the
foot battell, which is puissantest in the Sea fight, and which
is subtlest for contriving of an ambush, and inventing of
stratagems and warlike engines? Who having followed
the wars, hath observed true military discipline, where
when, how, with what forces, with what forme of battel
array it is fit to fight, what order is to be observed in
strengthning the Flankes and rereward of the Armie, what
souldiers are to be placed in the front if any daunger
should occure? Who by his travells hath found out the
conditions of many places, the qualities of Regions and
Provinces, the site of Rivers, Valleys, and Woodes, the
neerest wayes and by-wayes, the meanes to charge the
enemie, plot an ambush, devise a stratageme, and surprize
a Campe ? Who being skilfull in many tongues doth use
from his own mouth to hearten the Souldier he hath in
his armie to fight, and kindle their courage to battell?
For never could the territories of Empires be amplified,
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann never their bounds inlarged, never new Kingdomes
Kinhncrs p urc h asec [ without travels. For never could the King-
Oration on \ r . ,
Travel. dome or bpame have attained to so great power and
strength, had not Columbus and Americus sayled to the
South pole, and by their travels discovred new Islands.
Never had the Romanes attained to such an extent of their
Empire, unlesse Julius Caesar had travelled over the whole
West part of the world, found out Britaine, before time
unknowen to the Romanes, and gone to Cleopatra into
Egypt. If Pompey had never travelled into Africa and
Asia, Scipio had never fled so farre as Numantia.
But what meane I to light a Torch unto you in a matter
that is the cleerest of all things ? Will you have me relate
unto you other commodities that redound unto men by
travels ? I will shew unto you that Kings and other men
have beene famous by travels. For this is not a rare thing
to be scene, that they whom their domesticall fortune hath
forsaken, and even exposed to the scoffe of the world,
should be entertained by the benevolence of out-landish
fortunes, and the gentle gale of forraine favours, and be
promoted to high dignities and honors. For how fared
it with Tarquinius Priscus? who having travelled into
Latium out of Hetruria, wherin he was born, and in
which he suffered a base repulse, did he not get a Scepter
& Diadem amongst strangers ? What also did Fulco Earl
of Anjow? Was he not in his travels made King of
Hierusalem? By travell Themistocles purchased those
dignities of the King of Persia, which at home in his
owne countrey, he could never have attained to, being
created Lord of three most beautifull Cities, Minusium,
Magnesium, and Lampsacum. By travell Cadmus built
Thebes, by travell Antenor built Padua, Babylon was built
by travellers, Alba by Trojan travellers : Noble Lisbone
had her originall from travell ; and surely my Oration
would grow to be infinite, if I would goe about to reckon
up those Empires, Kingdomes, Cities, and Townes, which
would have beene none at all, if there had beene no course
of travell. I would have the auncient wildernesses
38
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
themselves speake, the hils, and unmanured places, which Hermann
JS" I *
you see now most of all inhabited ; I would have them, I Q ^" S O
say, magnifie Travell with these wordes : O singular and Travel.
most glorious fruites of travell, O the excellent commodi
ties thereof, O most noble and even golden fleeces, and
helpes much greater then al praise, which doe not onely
delight and raise the private life of men, but also advance,
amplifie, and preserve the publique felicity it selfe. O
most worthy, most excellent, and with all praises to be
extolled are all those men, which contemning all difficulties
and dangers, desire to blesse their friends with such and
so great benefits, joy their Common-weale, and decke their
most deare country with everlasting memory, laud, glory
and immortality of their name. For if they heretofore
amongst the Romanes obtained immortall glory, which
eyther graced, defended, or preserved their Common-weale
by their counsels or endevours, by how much the more
everlasting praise and immortall renowne doe they deserve,
which for the common profite, for the benefite and prosper
ous estate of the Common-weale refused not to expose
themselves to so great and so many tempests and perils,
and voluntarily to cast their life and welfare into dangers
for the safety of their countrey? And though (my
courteous Auditors) all those things which you have
hitherto heard from me, could not be procured by the
helpe of travell, so that neither wealth, nor honours, nor
dignity, nor wisedome, nor authority, nor experience of
all things can be thereby gotten : howbeit such is the
sweetnesse of travelling and seeing the world, such the
pleasure, such the delight, that I thinke that man voyde
of all sense, and of a stony hardnes, which cannot be said
to be moved with so great pleasure, that he had rather
remaine in his owne house, as it were in a prison or gaole,
then to converse in the most beautifull Theatre of nature,
and the full court of all delights. O sluggish, abject,
servile, and most dejected minde of all, which includeth
it selfe within the narrow bounds of his owne house, and
doth in a manner banish it selfe into an Island. Truely
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann^ \ know not what greater punishment of deportation there
Oration * C?in ^ e ^ n ^ ^ condemnation to eternal fetters, or to the
Travel. mett all mines, then to be deprived and spoyled of all those
things, which are to be seene by the admirable workman
ship of nature in the heaven, earth and sea, and for whose
sakes these spheares of our eyes, these lights, this sharpnes
of sight, these senses were given unto us, that we might
survay and contemplate all these things : these feete, these
ankles, these motions, and faculties of running were
graunted unto us, that we might goe unto and seeke for
the most remote places : these handes, these fingers, these
sinews were given unto us that we might touch and feele
the miracles of the Omnipotent ; and being knowen unto
us by his workmanshippe, might magnifie that high
Architect, and Artificer of all things. How many things
also are there, with the onely fame and hearing whereof
we finde our mindes to be stirred up, delighted, and
tickled with a wonderfull recreation? I will omit so
many beautifull townes, so many populous Cities, and
most glorious buildings, so many marble Palaces, so many
Capitols, so many Babylonian Towers, so many auncient
Pyramides of Egypt, so many Colossi, so many Solomoni-
call Temples, so many statues : I will omit so many well
fortified Castels and Mountaines, as it were heaped up by
the fabulous Giants ; so many strong Fortresses, so many
Armories, that are to be admired even by Mars himselfe ;
so many artificiall workes, that do take away all fame and
admiration from those seven auncient miracles of the
world : I will omit so many rich treasuries, and the
Colchicall fleeces of the Ancients, so many treasures which
would even amaze the ancient Croesi, golden Midas, and
the Roman Crassi : so many most plentifull Store-houses,
and publique Magazines, for the sight whereof, even
Triptolemus himself, the first inventer of husbandry and
corne, would undertake very long journeys. But I will
draw your eyes especially unto those things, which being
wrought by the admirable cunning of nature bring
incredible pleasure, not onely to the outward senses, but
140
PRAISE OF TRAVEL
farre greater sweetnes to the mind also. For whom wil Hermann^
not so many pleasant Tempes and Paradises, so many " c " e
T. i c 11 c 11 i 1 f i n Oration on
Farkes mil or all kind or beasts, so many greene walkes, Travel.
full of all sorts of hearbs, so many gardens of the
Hesperides, Alcinoi, Tantali, Adonides and Semiramides,
so many shady groves of all the Veneres and Graces, and
the unspeakeable fragrancy of celestiall flowers, whom I say
will not these things so recreate, refocillate and move that
he should endevour to creep with the very Torteise even
with hands and feet, to enjoy so great pleasure? O
wearisome life, O bitter and most miserable life, which
art deprived of such a most wished for benefit of nature,
and of so great pleasure & joy of al things. For what is
this else then to consume his age in grief and darknes, and
a brutish kind of solitarines in that auncient denne of
Trophonius, which tooke away from man all better affec
tions, jovialnes, serenity, & the very fountain of mirth?
what I say is this els, & how much doth it differ from that
domestical darknes, which is destitute of the most pleasant
light of travell? For how much do they that lurke in
these most thicke & palpable mists differ from stocks and
stones which want all kind of motion ? Surely all living
creatures that are to be found in this most wide and vast
world are delighted with running abroad & free motion.
We see that the birds do flie abroad in the ayre, & do
swiftly flitter their wings now to one place, now to another :
we note the storks and swallows to flie away every
yeare in the winter moneths, and to returne again in the
spring : we behold the wilde beasts to wander here and
there in woodes and forrests, fishes in Lakes and Rivers,
and Sea-monsters in the Ocean : and if any of these
creatures are imprisoned and taken by the wily craft of
men, we find by daily experience that they doe with great
longing and desire crave their former liberty, and by all
meanes whatsoever to recover it. The very starres also
themselves are moved with a most swift course, and all
the nobler planets, and that high machine of all celestiall
things is turned about with incredible swiftnesse. O most
141
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann sordid and abject men, and unworthy of the very name
irchners Q f m W J IQ ^ Qe su ^ er tne se brute creatures, which are
Uration on i i i r 1 1 c 1
Travel. voyd both or reason and speech, to take away from them
the nobility and excellency of nature, and doe not leave
themselves any place, as much as amongst them. Goe
forth therefore thou, whatsoever thou art that desirest to
maintaine, and retaine the dignity of thy nature, go forth, I
say, from these most miserable lurking holes, put off thy
fetters, cast away that night from thy eyes, remove that
mouldy rust and languishing faintnesse from thee, shake
off thy drowsie disease, goe forth of thy grave and
sepulchre, wherin as if thou wert a man halfe dead, thou
dost not enjoy the most pleasant sight and taste of naturall
things. Art thou in the world? & yet hast thou not
scene the world ? Art thou in the earth ? and yet hast
thou not seene the face of the earth ? Art thou in nature ?
and yet hast thou not knowen nature ? Truely I will now
say that thou art not onely more madde, but also more
cruell towards thine own eyes, then that mad Democritus,
which is said to have deprived himselfe of his eyes, and
to have burnt up the sight thereof. For he, to the end
he might kindle the sight of his minde, and as it were
draw away that little skin from his inward thoughts, which
he thought came unto him by the meanes of his outward
eyesight, had rather suffer the dulnesse of his eyes then
of his minde. But thou dost procure thy selfe not only
that outward blindnes, but also an inward darkenesse, an
incredible stupidity, and a life truly dead. What I pray
you is more pleasant, more delectable, and more acceptable
unto a man then to behold the heighth of hilles, as it were
the very Atlantes themselves of heaven ? to admire
Hercules his pillers? to see the mountaines Taurus and
Caucasus ? to view the hill Olympus, the seat of Jupiter ?
to passe over the Alpes that were broken by Annibals
Vineger ? to climbe up the Apennine promontory of Italy ?
from the hill Ida to behold the rising of the Sunne before
the Sunne appeares ? to visite Pernassus and Helicon, the
most celebrated seates of the Muses? Neither indeed is
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IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
there any hill or hillocke, which doth not containe in it the Hermann
I/" 1 *
most sweete memory of worthy matters : there shalt thou ;r r
1 i i -VT i * i 1 r i j i \jratton on
see the place where Noahs Arke stood arter the deluge : Travel.
there where God himselfe dwelt, and promulged his
eternall law amongst the thunders and lightnings : there
Elias to have hid himselfe under a Juniper tree, and to
have received his food from Ravens : there the servant of
the Lord to have fedde his father-in-laws sheepe, and to
have seene the great Jehova in a burning bush : there
Peter to have wished he had built himselfe three
Tabernacles? there our Saviour to have ascended from
the earth after his resurrection, to the right hand of his
everlasting Father. Or is thy minde delighted with
prophane monuments? In one place thou shalt under
stand how the little cloude of the lingering Fabius stood
against Hannibal, and how he by his lingering restored the
State of Rome. In another place the town of Cannae,
which was the eternall wound of the Romane Empire ;
in another place the discomfiture at Trebia, and Thrasi-
menus, and else where other ruines of memorable matters.
For you shall not put as much as one steppe eyther in
Greece or Italy, wherein there do not occure considerations
of most remarkable matters. Or haddest thou rather
convert thine eyes to the wondrous workes of nature ?
Behold a lake of Ireland, which turneth wood into Iron
by an admirable prodigy of nature : or see the Islands of
Scotland, swimming after the manner of the auncient
Cyclades, and flitting up and downe in the water as the
sport of the tempests ; there thou wilt wonder to see
certaine trees, from whose fruite falling into a water that
runneth underneath, duckes and geese do grow. In
Moravia my most sweete countrey I will shew thee
Frankinsence and Myrrhe not to grow upon shrubbes, but
most miraculously to issue out of the very bowels of the
earth. Thou wilt wonder to see pots digged out of a
certaine mountaine in Silesia, which are framed and
fashioned by the very workmanship of nature her selfe.
In Prussia, the pleasantest of all Regions, wherein the
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann^ ve ry Gods themselves (if they were delighted with a
Kirchner s terrestr i a u habitation) might dwell, thou shalt see amber
(Jration on i i i i i r i i i r i o
Travel cast an( ^ belched forth by the vomiting or the bea, as it
were from Neptune himselfe. Wilt thou now have me
bring thee to v^Etna, Vesuvius, *Hecla the mouths of Hel,
and the burning gulfs of flames? for the searching out
of the cause whereof, we reade that Plinius Secundus
perished. But whither are we carried away? I perceive
the like happeneth unto me that doth unto them which
for recreation sake doe enter into a Barke, and passe by
the coast of the shore, when at length being deceived by
the sense of delight, they are carryed away from the Sea
shore to the middle of the surging waves, and so launch
forth a great way from the haven by the prosperous windes,
even contrary to their first intent : In like manner I am
affected with this travell of my minde, so that I have
farther passed with this course of my speech then I first
determined.
But that I may not abuse the favourable ale of your
benignity, which you have very bountifully afroorded unto
me, I will strike sayle and betake my selfe to the haven.
For I see that I have easily obtained the thing that I aymed
at. I see that your mindes have beene so moved, that
they now beginne to travell within themselves : I see that
you waxe weary of your rest, and of longer continuing
in your owne houses : I see that your countenances and
lookes do bend towards the gate ; I see your feete to itch,
and that the very motion of your bodies do argue an
inclination to travell. But to the end that none of those
who like the Snaile doe alwayes carry their houses on
their backes, may recall you in the middle of your way,
and by contrary speeches divert you from the desire of
travell ; I think that I shal undertake a worke worthy my
labor, if I shal fortifie your mindes and eares against the
cries of other men. For some say that travels are both
pernicious to a Common-weale, and hurtfull to a
private life : that by travell new manners, new vices,
* A burning mountaine of Island north from Scotland.
144
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
new staines, new diseases are drawen into a Common- Hermann
weale.
r , i. \ i Oration on
Let none or you (my worthy Auditors) be so ignorant Travel.
of matters, that he may not perswade himselfe that these
things are rather to be imputed to every mans perverse
nature and education, then to travel. Surely every where
men live with bad manners, and vices are every where
learned : at home examples of lust and other enormities
doe abound no lesse then abroad ; and at home there are
Davi, Phormiones, and Gnathones which doe greatly
corrupt youth. To what end dost thou object unto me
Paris and Lais ? At home also there are Thaides, at home
Sirenes, at home Medeas. Iniquity in all places is fertill
and fruitfull. Nay rather if any domesticall vices are so
rooted in any by reason of their perverse manners and
disciplines, that they are altogether turned into nutriment
and blood, I thinke that none other remedy can be
used then travell, which is wont to wash away our
blemishes, and by little and little to weare out what
soever is disjoynted, and rough in our naturall
manners.
Howbeit I confesse there are corruptions also amongst
strangers ; there are pleasing angling hookes of pleasure,
and inticing allurements : for some are branded with the
marke of levity, some of luxury, some of disloyalty. But
what good corne I pray you is there ever found, wherewith
some cockle is not mingled ? Therefore it is so far that for
that cause you should thinke men ought not to travell,
that it shold rather further our course. For there is no
surer mean in us to confirm & strengthen our vertue, then
if we shall make triall of our nature by conversing in the
midst of the conflicts of vices, and as it were in the hote
skirmishes and brunt of the battell. Then I will say
thou art valiant, temperate, and continent, not if thou dost
never converse amongst intemperate and voluptuous men,
and dost sparingly live at thine owne house with thy
slender pittance, lurking like a noone-daies Grashopper ;
but if amongst the woers of Penelope themselves, amongst
c. c. 145 K
CORYATS CRUDITIES
Hermann^ the huge holies of the Lapithae, and the swine of Circe,
KircAner s among . st t h e middle of the Sirenes thou preserve thy
(Jration on 1 1 TTI i i > j
Travel contmencie, and with Ulysses returne home mviolated
from Calypso and Circe. For by so much the more
renowned and glorious was Ulysses travell, by how much
the more it was accompanied with danger. Let us there
fore thinke that we are to travell in that maner, that as
we see the river Rosne run through the lake Losanna, or
the fountaine Arethusa through the Sea, and yet is not
sprinckled with any outward saltnes, nor the purity of
the water thereof changed : so let us passe through
nations of divers manners, that we may returne home
untouched with any contagion of perverse maners. But
what answer shall we make to those that complaine that
money is spent by travell? Pray what are they that
object this? Surely such as thinke nothing blessed,
nothing glorious, nothing fortunate, nothing to be desired
but onely riches. Verily they are most unworthy to whom
nature should give any other sense, who had rather want
those true and eternal riches, vertue, wisdome, and the
knowledge of most worthy and profitable matters which
are purchased by travel, then money. They are worthy
to remaine for ever lame and blinde with their Mammon,
and most unworthy to enjoy the benefites of nature, or
and other pleasures which are procured by travell. As
though the dice and dicing boxe, domesticall idlenesse,
domesticall luxury, and the gulfe of domesticall gorman
dising, doth not farre exceed the necessary charges of
travell. Surely the same gulfe of prodigality is at home
that is abroad, the same occasion of wasting our fortunes
and patrimony, the same good fellowship, the same diet,
the same dishes. But let us heare some timorous fellowes :
they feare lest their friends should fall into agues, they
feare their sickenesse, they feare their death ; Why,
do men perish rather abroad then at home? What,
is there no contagion at home? No consumption?
Are there not for the most part greater pestilences
and contagious diseases at home? Why doe we so often
146
IN PRAISE OF TRAVEL
flie from home, and seeke for a secure life abroad as it Hermann
If * L *
were in a Sanctuary ? How many diseases doth domesticall
, j J > . J , Oration on
rest breed a manr At home the gout, at home the Travel.
infirmity of the handes, at home diseases of the feet, at
home consumptions do reigne, and do accompany our
domesticall chaire, our domesticall pillowes, and our softer
beddes, which are oftentimes cured with meere motion and
travell.
But doe you thinke that there is a greater safegard of
our life at home then abroad? since the very Angels
themselves even with great Armies doe travell with us, and
that supreme ruler of our destinies doth govern our paths ;
so that the childe Jesus flieth with us into Egypt : out of
Egypt the fiery pillar returneth with us : in the ship
Christ sitteth with us ; freeth his Jonas and his Paul
miraculously from the tempests, reconcileth our enemies
and Esaus unto us : preserveth our life from theeves,
bringeth us into our Inne when we are wounded, taketh
care of us and payeth a penny for us to our Host. But I
feare (sayest thou) amorous potions and poysons abroad :
Why dost thou lesse feare them at home? At home
there is a step-mother, at home witches and sorcerers, at
home hatred and enmity. How many by their travels
have procured themselves a free evasion from domesticall
calamities and miseries, and from deadly dangers, and
have sought comfort abroad? The Patriarch Jacob
committed himselfe to travell that he might avoyd
domesticall treachery. But what meane I to detain you
longer then you would ? I see nothing doth any longer
hinder you, the gates are open, and all the way is open
for you. Let us follow the most wise counsell of
Apollonius, who affirmeth that it beseemeth yong men to
travell no otherwise then if they were banished out of
their country. Let us therefore abroad seeke for the
knowledge of learning and all arts, abroad science, abroad
wisedome, abroad the garnishing of our manners and
languages, abroad counsell and action, and experience of
all things : from abroad let us bring joy and comfort to
147
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Hermann our parents, worship and ornament to our family, delight
Klnhners to our friends and kinsfolkes, commodity and profite to
Oration on our Common-weale, glory and immortall honour to
ourselves : and consequently let us prepare our life, which
is nothing else then a dayly travell, to that last and
heavenly pilgrimage, by the custome of these travels here
on earth.
FINIS.
148
LAURENCE WHITAKER S ELOGY
MR. LAURENCE WHITAKERS
ELOGIE OF THE BOOKE.
This Epistle ensuing was written by my deare friend M.
Laurence Whitaker, to a learned neighbour of mine in
the towne of Evill, one M. John Seward, a reverend
Preacher, as his censure or Elogie of my Booke, to the
end the said M. Seward might include it in a Letter
that he wrote to one Doctor Mocket, Chaplaine to the
Bishop of London that then was, for obtaining his
approbation that my Booke might be printed. There
fore seeing it is a wittie and elegant Epistle, I have
thought good to insert it in this place, and to prefixe it
immediately before my booke, though the Author
thereof be disposed in some places to be merry with me.
SIR,
Have, with some difficulty at length Laurence
traced over the high Alpes of this loftye Whitaker to
worke of that worthie Orator, Traveller,
and Historiographer, Mr. Thomas
Coryate : In which long journey though
I have met with many a rough and rocky
passage, yet I have beene so eased with
the delight of many smooth and levell allies of his owne
pleasant invention, that they have bene to me insteade of
an Alpine chaire to carry me at ease over the difficult and
invious precipices. Shall I commend the worke unto you ?
Shall I use any reasons to presse, and to prove the fitnes
of it for the Presse? No, in stead of good juyce to give
it a sweete relish, I should presse out tarte ver- juyce to
give it a distast, and a suspicion of defect, as if it had
149
John Seward
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Laurence crackes and flawes in it, that needed to be playstered up
Whitaker to W j t j 1 ^ mortar o f commendation. All I will say of it,
John Reward. .,,,.. T . ., J . ,
shall DC this : It is a garment or many colours so curiously
and gracefully intermixed ; it is a garden of fayre flowers,
so pleasantly planted and ordered ; it is a ship of rare
out-landish commodities, that hath lading, yea and ballasse
of such worth and price, that no disgrace can it be to it,
though in this garment were found some rent, in this
garden some weeds, in this ship some trash. I will say
of the Author no worse then Horace saith of Homer,
Sic veris falsa remiscet,
Primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum.
What said I ? Veris falsa ? Nay more, sacra profanis,
lasciva modestis, ludicra seriis : Nay, I will say with Ovid,
that there be in it
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.
No Apothecary could have observed a more judicious
symmetry in the mixture of his potions and electuaries ;
no cooke in the decent composition of his sallets or stewed
brothes. Nay both symmetrie and mixture is here such,
that though I said I would not commend the worke ; yet
I cannot hold, but for the one and the other, I must say
as Horace saith, he is
Primus ad extremum similis sibi
And againe,
Omne tulit punctum, &c.
Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo.
How strongly hath he fortified his booke with many a
fortresse and Citadel? How loftily hath he adorned it
with many a high tower and steeple? Nay, how richly
and pompously hath hee set out all the Countries he hath
passed through (being, as his title speaketh, in number
seven, equall with the wonders of the world, the wise men
of Greece, and the mouthes of the monster breeding Nile)
having allowed to everyone of them a hundred & odde
John Reward.
LAURENCE WHITAKER S ELOGY
Pages to attend them ; nay for every mile almost seven Laurence
lines to describe it, as by his exact Arithmeticke he can Whitaker to
make it appeare to you? To conclude, if the Pearle of
the Netherlands, Lipsius, were living, I know he would
not thinke me too bold, if I gave of these Monita &
exempla Hodoeporetica, the same censure, that the Regius
& Apostolicus Censor doth of his Monita & exempla
Politica ; Quis ea praslo digna non censeat, cum erudita
sint, cum pulchra varietate lectorem mirifice oblectent,
cum ad illustrationem antiquitatum multum conferant, &
nihil contineant, quod Catholicae fidei adversetur ?
And so commending the Author to your
accustomed favour, and his worke
to your best furtherance,
I rest
Your verie loving friend
LAURENCE WHITAKER.
[Coryats Crudities
CORYATS CRUDITIES.
A Seasick
Traveller.
My Observations of France.
Was imbarked at Dover, about tenne
of the clocke in the morning, the
fourteenth of may, being Saturday and
Whitsun-eve, Anno 1608, and arrived
in Calais (which Caesar calleth Ictius
portus, a maritime towne of that part of
Picardy, which is commonly called le pais
[p. 2.]
Monsieur
de la Genet
a Worthy
Deputy.
* - * i.
reconquis ; that is, the recovered Province, inhabited in
former times by the ancient *Morini.) about five of the
clocke in the afternoone, after I had varnished the exterior
parts of the ship with the excrementall ebullitions of my
tumultuous stomach, as desiring to satiate the gorman
dizing paunches of the hungry Haddocks (according as I
have hieroglyphically expressed it in the front of my
booke) with that wherewith I had superfluously stuffed
my selfe at land, having made my rumbling belly their
rapacious aumbrie.
Presently after my arrival, I was brought with the
rest of my company to the Deputy Governor of the
towne, whose name was Monsieur de la Genet : the
principall Governors name (whom we saw not) was
Monsieur de Vic, who hath one wooden leg. The
Deputy was a very worthy and gallant Gentleman, and
shewed himselfe very affable unto us. For he asked us
many questions, as about our King, and the newes of
Ireland, &c. and very courteously intreated us ; and after
this familiar parle dismissed us to our lodging. For it is
* Of whom Virgil speaketh thus, Extremique hominum Morini.
JEnei. 8.
152
OBSERVATIONS OF CALAIS
the custome of the towne, that whensoever any strangers
arrive there, they are brought before the Deputy Governor,
to the end to be examined about the occasion of their
comming thither, whither they travel!, and to have their
names inrolled before they goe to their lodging. I lay
in Calais Whitsun-eve and all Whitsun-day ; where I
observed these particulars : A little on this side the towne,
when I was on the Sea, I saw a thing which I much
admired ; the sands of Calais, which appeared so plain a The Sands of
great way off, that I thought they had not beene covered Calais.
with any water at all, but drie firme ground for men to
walk on for recreation. The other sands on that part of
the water that our ship sayled on, being not to be seene.
These are such as we cal in Latine Syrtes, that is, quicke
sands. Sometimes at a low ebbe they are all uncovered
with water, insomuch that the people of the towne doe
then walke upon them as upon firme land. But a certain
English man within these few years, was deceived by those
sands : for when he walked alone there, he was suddenly
overtaken and overwhelmed with the waters : for a monu
ment whereof, there are erected two wooden pillars in the
water a little from the haven.
There are two Churches in this towne, to the greatest
whereof I went on Whitsun-day, where I saw their Masse
(but not with that superstitious geniculation, and elevation
of hands at the lifting up of their consecrated Wafer-cake, [p. 3.]
that the rest used) and many ceremonies that I never saw
before. This amongst the rest : about the middle of Strange
their Masse there was an extreme crackling noise from ^ etem
a certain hollow place in the vault of the middle of the
Church. This is the same place, as I take it, where they
let up and downe their Bels. After the noyse there was
powred downe a great deale of water, immediately after
the water ensued a great multitude of Wafer-cakes, both
white, redde and yellow : which ceremony was done to
put them in minde of the cloven tongues, that appeared
that day of Pentecost to the * Apostles in Hierusalem.
*Acts 2.
153
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Here I observed a great prophanation of the Lords
supper, committed by their irreligious apioXarpeia which
in steed of Christ doth worship the God Maozim.f
Also I saw their mutilated Sacrament, whereof I much
Sacrament in heard before. For I saw the Priest minister the Sacrament
to the lay people under one kind only, namely that of
bread, defrauding them of the Wine, contrary to the holy
institution of Christ and his Apostles, and the auncient
practise of the Primitive Church, which was ever continued
from age to age till the time of * Alexander the third of
that name Pope, who about the time of the Emperour
Fridericus Barbarossa, Anno 1 1 70, began to deprive the
Laity of the other part of the Sacrament.
The high Priest being in very rich copes, went abroad
in Procession round about the Church-yard, after one of
their Masses was done (for that day many Masses were
said in the Church) having a rich silver Crosse carried
before him, and accompanied with many that carried silke
banners and flags after a very Ethnicall and prophane
pompe.
A Fair At the north side of the Quire I saw a faire monument of
Monument. an English Lady, and this Epitaph cut in the stone upon it.
COrpus quiescit marmore, & excitandum tempore,
Vultum dei mens aspicit, formamque splendidissimam
Mater sepulta pulvere, lotus puer baptismate,
Utrumque gleba contegit, uterque surget protinus.
Partus dolore concidit, matris sinu somnum capit,
Utrumque coelum possidet, cum Rex poli devenerit.
Mariae Wentworth mortuae Eques Wentworth parens est
Dominus Praeses Calesiae. Anno Christi millesimo,
Adjunge quingentesimum quartumque ac quinquagesi-
mum,
Habesque vitas terminum. Dies quo tanta foemina
discessit
Is est ordine alter Septembris flebilis
Deflendus orbe lugubri.
f Dan. 1 1, 38. * Chroni. Charionis, lib. 4. in vita Henrici Aucipis.
154
OBSERVATIONS OF CALAIS
These were the words that were ingraven upon her
Tombe, but so intricate and harsh, that every Latinist
cannot understand them. At the west end of the Church
there is a beautiful and faire table exceeding large, wherin
is painted Christ sitting on the Rain-bow, with the soules
of the Saints, and the godly on the right hand of him,
and the devil on the left hand, with a gaping mouth,
devouring the soules of the wicked.
They have a very strict order in this towne, that if Strict order
any stranger of what Nation soever he be, shal be taken kept in Calais.
walking by himself, either towards their Fortresse, which
they call the Rice-banke, or about the greene of the
towne, he shall be apprehended by some Souldiers, and
carried to the Deputy Governor, and committed to safe
custody til he hath paid some fee for his ransome.
They have two very strong Forts belonging to this ^ Stron S
towne, whereof one is the Fortresse before named, called
the Rice banke, which is situate in the middest of the
quicke sands hard by the Sea ; insomuch that the Sea at
every flowing in of the tide, beateth violently on the wals
with the waves thereof. It is a pretty way distant from
the town, and had the denomination of Rice banke upon
this occasion : About the year 1 540, Calais being in the
hands of the English, it happened that an English Sea-
captaine being at Sea, tooke a Barke of Dunkerke laden
with Rice : which when he had brought into Calais haven, [p. 5.]
he acquainted the Governor of the towne with it ; who to
reward him for his prize, took but halfe this Barkes lading
to himselfe, and bestowed the other halfe upon the Sea-
captaine, and granted him this favour besides, that for the
better utterance of it, he should receive the ordinary pay
of the ordinary Souldiers, which garded a little Fort Soldiers Fed
standing in the Sea before Calais haven, and in stead of Wlth
that money which was allowed them for their victuals, he
should feed them with Rice, so long as his Barkes lading
lasted : whereupon the said little Fort hath ever since
been called the Rice-banke, of the abundance of Rice,
buttered and boiled in Pottage, which at that time was
155
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Citadel eaten in it. The other Fort is a Citadell, built on a firme
land on the west side of the towne, which seemeth to be
a very great building : but because it is inaccessible to
strangers, I adventured not to approach near unto it to
survay the particulars, for feare of danger. This Citadell
is always fortified with a strong garison of Souldiers. The
Market-place is very spacious and faire, being so large
both for bredth and length, that I never saw the like in
all England : on one side whereof there is a goodly fair
Towne house built of stone worke of a great heigth.
Their land-gate which is built in the south part of the
towne, leading to Boulogne is faire and new, being built
all with bricke.
Before I make an end of my observations of Calais, I
The Surpris- will relate one memorable history concerning the surprising
ing of Calais of the towne by the Spaniards, and the recovery of it
by the again by the Frenchmen, which is this. Anno 1596. the
Archduke Albert having cast off his Cardinals hat, and
being invested Governor of the low Countries for the
King of Spaine, came from Brussels with an army of
fifteen thousand footemen, and foure thousand horsemen,
and caused a report to be scattered abroade that he would
[p. 6.] succour la Fere a town of Picardie belonging to the King
of France, then held by the Spaniard, and besieged by
the French ; and having in the moneth of Aprill found
meanes to put in some little succour into la Fere, secretly
and cunningly turned head towardes Calais : Monsieur de
Rosne Governour of Graveling, a towne of the Archdukes
hard by Calais, understanding that Monsieur de Visdossein
then Governor of Calais, carried himselfe but carelesly and
remissely in his government, and having gotten some
secret intelligence with some of the inhabitants, promised
the Archduke to make him Master of Calais before the
French King should be able to succour it So Rosne
before any body knew his intent got into the country of
Calesis, took the Pont de Nieullet a fort first built by
the English men, and the Rice-banke, and so stopped the
entrance of all succour that could come by Sea. The
156
OBSERVATIONS OF CALAIS
Archduke having notice of this, came with his armie, and Calais
beleaguerd Calais of all sides, tooke the suburbes, and
upon the seaventeenth day of Aprill planted his Cannon
against the towne, and played upon it. The inhabitants
being thus violently assaulted desire a parley, and some
eight or nine days truce, till they might receive the succour
they expected from the King. The Archduke accorded
them sixe dayes truce, upon condition that they would
yeeld him presently the town, and the artillery in it, and
either themselves stay in the towne with their goods, or
retire unto the citadell : so they yielded him the towne
and their houses well furnished, and retired themselves
pellmell unto the citadell. The French King came to
Boulogne with some forces, and sent some two hundred
men to succour the citadell, but to little purpose. For
the Governour and all the souldiers were so terrified with
the Archdukes Cannon, that they were forced to yeeld the
citadell to him. The four and twentith of Aprill, the
Governour Visdossein and eight hundred Gentlemen, Soul- p renc hmen
diers, and townesmen were slaine in the assault, and so the Slain.
French had a great losse, and the Spaniards a large spoile. [p- 7-1
And thus the Archduke tooke it and held it til the peace
at Vervins concluded the twelfth of June Anno 1598. at
which treaty Calais and other places then in the hands of
the Spaniards, were yeelded up to the French, and hath
so ever since continued, 1607. Thus much of Calais.
I Departed from Calais about eleaven of the clocke in
the morning on Whitson-munday, and came to
Boulogne in Picardie, which was sixteene miles distant
from it, about seaven of the clocke in the afternoone.
Betwixt Calais and Boulogne I saw two Churches
grievously demolished, which was done in the time of
the civill warres, and two Monasteries extremely ruinated,
whereof one was situate in a solitary place on the left
hand by the side of a wood.
Boulogne is divided into two parts, the higher and the Boulogne.
lower : in the higher Boulogne there is a very strong and
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Great great Castle invironed with exceeding deepe trenches and
J"/ * a strong wall, within the which there are many townesmens
Boulogne. to - . . . . . -.. .
nouses, ror this higher part is so full or private houses,
that though you would take this for a meere Castle being
farre from it, yet when you come into it you will finde it
a populous towne, and well inhabited. Amongst the
rest of their buildings, I observed a Monastery of Canon
Monkes, which is right opposite to the gate as you enter
the towne ; whereof I saw two walking together in long
blacke vailes over their gownes that reached to their shoes.
These were the first Monkes that ever I saw : in the
lower towne which is about a hundred paces distant from
the higher, are three faire streets : in one whereof there
is a Colledge of Franciscan Friers, called the Cordeliers.
This lower Boulogne also is fortified with a strong wall,
[p. 8.] which was made by our English men, after they had
conquered the same, but whether in the time of Edward
the third or Henry the eight I know not.
The old man About a mile from the towne there is a very high and
of Boulogne, strong watch tower built upon the toppe of an eminent
hill, which our English men do commonly call the old
man of Boulogne. This tower in a clear day is easily
to be scene from Dover Castle : it is said that Julius
Caesar was the first founder of this tower, which he erected
to the end to fortifie that place for his souldiers against
the Gaules, and the bordering Britaines whom at that time
he oppugned.
I went from Boulogne about sixe of the clocke the
next morning, being Tuesday the seaventeenth day of
May, and came to Montrel a town of Picardie, which was
sixteene miles beyond it, about foure of the clocke in
the afternoone. Betwixt Boulogne and Montrel I
observed these things ; a little beyond Boulogne there
Gallows of is a Gallowes, consisting of two goodly faire pillers of
Freestone. free-stone, where there is no cross beame as upon our
English gallowes, but that crosse beame is erected when
any are hanged, and taken down againe immediately after
the execution. No offendours are hanged there, but only
158
OBSERVATIONS OF MONTREUIL
fellons. A little beyond that there is a place of execution The
Tor,
Wheel.
made of timber, at the toppe whereof there is a wheele, Tormentoi
whereon the bodies of murderers only are tormented and
broken in peeces with certaine yron instruments, wherewith
they breake their armes first, then their legs and thighes,
and after their breast : If they are favoured their breast is
first broken. That blow on their breast is called the blow
of mercy, because it doth quickly bereave them of their
life. This torment of the wheele I find in Aristotle to
have been used amongst the ancient Grecians also. Who
in the seventh booke of his Ethicks and third Chapter,
useth the word rpo^i^eus which signifieth to be tor
tured with the wheele. Againe, a little beyond that [P- 9-]
place there is a little chappell made conduitwise, wherein
is erected the picture of Christ and the Virgin Mary ;
there I saw three women and a man praying to that
picture. This was the first of those kinde of chappels
that ever I saw, but afterward in Savoy, Piemont, and
some places of Lombardy, I saw very great store of
them.
About eight miles beyond Boulogne I saw a very
ruinous Monastery, which belike was battered down in
the civil warres. About two miles on this side Montrel A
there was a Whitsuntide foole disguised like a foole, Whitsuntide
wearing a long coate, wherein there were many severall
peeces of cloth of divers colours, at the corners whereof
there hanged the tailes of Squirrels : he bestowed a little
peece of plate, wherein was expressed the effigies of the
Virgin Mary, upon every one that gave him money ; for
he begged money of all travellers for the benefite of the
Parish Church.
Montrell is a strong walled towne, situate on a hill, Montreuil.
having a very strong fortification on the toppe thereof,
invironed with a strong wall. There are two gates at the
entrance of the towne, at each whereof there is a guarde
of souldiers that examined us before we came into the
towne. The principall Church of the towne is our Ladies
Church. Our Hostesse of Montrel prayed the Virgin
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A Country
Cart.
[p. 10.]
The Forest
ofVeronne.
A stately
gallows.
Abbevile.
Picqulgny.
Mary to blesse me, because shee thought I was a Papist,
but when shee understood I was a Protestant, shee seemed
to pitty me.
I departed from Montrel in a cart, according to the
fashion of the country, which had three hoopes over it,
that were covered with a sheet of course canvasse, about
sixe of the clocke the next day in the morning, being
Wednesday, and the eighteenth day of May ; and came to
Abbevile about eleaven of the clocke that morning, betwixt
Montrel and Abbevile twenty miles. About ten miles
on this side Abbevile we entered into a goodly Forrest
called Veronne, which is reported to be forty miles in
compasse : at the entrance whereof a French man that
was in our company, spake to us to take our swords in
our hands, because sometimes there are false knaves in
many places of the Forrest that lurke under trees and
shrubbes, and suddenly set upon travellers, and cut their
throtes, except the true men are too strong for them.
Also there are wild Bores and wild Harts in that Forrest ;
but we saw none of them. About five miles on this side
Abbevile there is a goodly Parke, invironed with a faire
brick wall, wherein there is Deere : a little on this side
Abbevile there is a stately gallowes of foure very high
pillars of free stone, which is joyned together with two
crosse beames of stone, whereon the offenders are hanged.
Abbevile is a goodly faire Citie of Picardy, wherein
are many beautifull buildings both publique and private.
And many Monasteries of men and women : it is very
well peopled : the wals are moated about in some places,
especially about the new wall at the East end of the
towne : that wall is very stately, being of an exceeding
heigth, and goodly armes of the King, &c. made therein.
I went from Abbevile about one of the clocke the same
day, and came about eight of the clocke in the evening
to a countrey village in Picardy called Picquigny, fourteene
miles there hence distant. Most of the country betwixt
these places is exceeding fertill, having as faire meadows,
and fruitfull corne fields as I saw in all France. After
160
OBSERVATIONS OF AMIENS
I had travelled about sixe of those fourteen miles, I over- CaroUu
TTf* *
r^-
TT
tooke a certaine Frier, attired in white habites, whose
name was Carolus Wimier : I walked with him as farre
as Picquigny : he was Ordinis Praemonstratensis, a young
man of the age of two and twenty years, and a prety
Latinist : he went to Amiens to be fully confirmed in his
Orders by the Bishop of Amiens. I found him a very [p. 11.]
good fellow and sociable in his discourses ; for he and I
were so familiar, that we entered into many speeches of
divers matters, especially of Religion, wherein the chiefest
matter that we handled was about the adoration of Images.
I came to the goodly Citie of Amiens, which is the
Metropolitan and capitall Citie of Picardy, about sixe of
the clocke a Thursday morning, being sixe miles distant
from Picquigny. I remained there all that day, and the
next day about two of the clocke in the afternoone I tooke
my journey there hence by Coach towards Paris.
About some two furlongs before I came to Amiens,
I saw two very ancient and stately Abbayes demolished,
one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
T
My Observations of Amiens.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written these verses upon
Amiens. Ve 5 u P on
> T -, . r ..,.,. . Amiens.
Erron ruerat peregrmis Gallia turmis,
Terrori Gallis Belgia sola fuit.
Germanus Belgas cum vincit, Belgica Belga
Cum tueor, Belgii Belgia sola fui.
This Citie is called in Latin Ambianum, which name
some say, was imposed upon it by the Emperour Gratian,
because it is compassed about with the river Somna ; before
it was called Samorobrina, and it is said to have been
built by the Emperour Antoninus Pius, and his, adopted
sonne Marcus Aurelius. It is (as I said before) the
Metropolitan of Picardy ; well walled and situate in a
very fertill plaine : it is much greater then Abbevile, and
very populous : I lay at the signe of the Ave Maria,
c. c. 1 6 1 L
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Cathedral
Church.
Beautiful
Pictures.
[p. 12.] where I read these two verses written in golden letters
upon the Linterne of the doore, at the entering into the
Inne. This in Greeke, T% c^Ao^ewa? M eTriXavQavecrOe,
that is, Forget not your good entertainment : and this in
Latine, Hospitibus hie tuta fides.
The Cathedral Church of this Citie is dedicated to our
Lady, being the very Queene of al the Churches in France,
and the fairest that ever I saw till then. This Church
was built by a certaine Bishop of this Citie, about foure
hundred years since, whose monument is made in brasse
at the west end of the Church, with certaine Latin
inscriptions about it ; but such is the strangnesse of the
character, that I could not understand it.
There are in the body of this Church two very
sumptuous rows of faire pillars of free-stone, eight in
a row, on each whereof there are hanged divers most
beautiful tables of pictures very exquisitely drawen and
richly gilt, which is indeede the principal thing that doth
so beautifie and adorne this Church, and make it famous
above all the French Churches. Some of these pictures
are of the king of France and his Queene Mary de
Medices, and Monsieur Biron, and many of the other
French Nobility ; many of Christ and the Virgin Mary,
others of religious men and Saints, and some of certaine
benefactors of that Church. Truely such is the beauty
and resplendent grace of these pictures, that it will even
amaze a stranger that never saw the like ; on some pillars
two pictures being hanged, whereof many are of that
largenesse, that they answer the full proportionable length
of a tall mans body.
Towards the upper end of the body of the Church on
the left hand as you enter from the west gate, there is a
marveilous rich Pulpit, the richest that ever I saw till
then, being curiously adorned with many stately pictures
and gilt Images. I take it to be double gilt, and that
over head is answerable to the rest in sumptuousnes.
There is a convenient and pretty roome on the right hand
of the walke, which doth inviron the Quire, wherein is
162
A marvellous
rich Pulpit.
[P-
OBSERVATIONS OF AMIENS
very neatly kept a certaine Tabernacle, made in the forme
of a Turret, which is garnished with many pictures, and
sumptuously gilt : this dooth the fraternity of the shoe
makers carry in solemne procession every St. Stephens day.
In the next roome unto that in the same side of the A Globe of the
walke is very cunningly made in brasse, a Globe or Spheare World.
of the world, both heaven and earth, very costly gilt,
wherein are represented the fixed starres and planets, and
the twelve celestiall signes.
The outside of the west end of the Church, over the
dore is most beautifully decked with exceeding abundance
of Images, wherein many of the principall Histories of
the Scripture, both of the olde and new Testament, are
very lively set forth. Also at the west end of the Church
without the dore the statue of St. Christopher is most
excellently pourtrayed in stone.
The principallest relique that is kept in this Church is St. John
the forepart of St. John Baptists head, which is inclosed ^ a P tliti
in a peece of gold that is beset with many precious stones.
Againe, the same peece of gold is put into another rich
Cabinet, made of crystall ; out of the which it is taken,
whensoever it is shewed to any strangers or any other : it
is never shewed but at sixe of the clocke in the morning,
in a certaine little high Chappell, consecrated to that
purpose. There are about three or foure paire of stairs,
that leade to the same. From the time that the dore of
this Chappell is opened, which is about sixe of the clocke
in the morning there beginneth a Masse there, and
continueth till seven, and then it is shut : so that they
which come after it is shut, cannot see it till the next day.
It is the custome both of strangers and all others that
see it (if they are of any ability) to lay downe some money,
as an offering in a little dish hard by the head, which is
afterward distributed to the poore. Innumerable was the
company of Cockle and Muskle shels and beads, and other [p- 14-]
religious reliques, which I saw hanged up over the dore
of this little Chappell. I was at the Nunnery of the Carmelite
Carmelite Nunnes, right opposite to the entry whereof um
163
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Franciscan
Nuns.
A new
Nunnery.
there was a very goodly Altar ; at whose sides there were
very curious and rich hangings of white lawne, as I
conceived it, or some other very fine linnen most
exquisitely wrought with needle-worke, and that by the
Nunnes themselves, as it was reported. I saw only two
Nunnes that kept the dore, but I could not be suffered
to see the rest within the Nunnery, because forsooth they
never see any man, for fear of inticements to vanity.
Also I saw another Nunnery of Franciscan Nunnes, where
there was another fair Altar ; I came into their Church at
the time of prayers in the afternoone, the Nunnes being
then at their Vespers, in a higher loft or chappell, unto
the which I could not have accesse. But I saw them at
service sitting in two rowes opposite to each other. They
wore white vailes about their heades, and black over the
same which covered their whole body to their feete : one
of these was a very beautifull woman.
There is now building in Amiens a very faire Nunnery
for the same Carmelite Nunnes, which doe now live in
another Nunnery that is more obscure, and lesse delightfull
for their contemplation. They remove shortly from that
wherein they now live to that which is now building,
because it is a more private and solitary place for their
meditation, and the service of God. Unto this new
Nunnery there belongeth a faire garden full of fine
spacious walkes, beset with sundry pleasant trees. I was
at the Monastery of the Capucins, in whose Church there
were two faire altars, with many pictures of Christ and
Saint Francis. They have a faire garden belonging to
their Monastery, neare to which they have a Cloister,
wherein are hanged many religious pictures, emblemes,
and posies tending to mortification.
A rich altar. At Saint Germans Church there is a wondrous rich
altar, very abundantly decked with precious ornaments,
especially a gilt Tabernacle. This is the fairest Altar
by many degrees that I saw in all the City.
The towne house which is very neare to the gate as
you come into the city from Pickeney is very faire, being
164
[P-
OBSERVATIONS OF AMIENS
three stories high, and built with bricke, having goodly
armes in it.
The fairest cage of birds that I saw in al France, was Cage of
at the signe of the Ave Maria in Amiens, the workmanship Blrdi -
whereof was very curious with gilt wyers. In the same
were four Turtle Doves, and many gold Finches, with
other birds which are such as our hempseede birds in
England.
The first Pilgrime that ever I saw was in Amiens, a
very simple fellow, who spake so bad Latin that a country
Scholler in England should be whipped for speaking the A Pilgrim.
like. He told me that he had lived two yeares at
Compostella, a city and University of Galicia in Spaine,
where Saint James is much worshipped, wherehence he
then came, and was upon going to Rome. He had a long
staffe in his hand with a nobbe in the middle, according
to the fashion of those Pilgrims staffes, a chaine about
his necke full of extraordinary great beades, and a box
by his side, wherein was the picture of our Lady and
Christ in her armes.
Now I will relate as memorable a history of the
Spaniards surprising of this city, and the recovery of it
again by the Frenchmen, as I have done before in my
observations of Calais.
Anno 1597, Henry the fourth King of France having
newly ended his Parliament assembled that yeare at
Rouen, and consulting of putting in execution the lawes The surprize
there made, and of raising a mighty army to chace the f Amiens by
Spaniards out of Picardie ; heard newes of the surprize
of Amiens, which happened thus. Hernand Teillo
Governour of Dourlans a towne in the Frontiers of [p- 16.]
Picardie, now belonging to the French King, but then
held by the Spaniard, having intelligence by some
French men that were then fugitives in Flanders, that
the French King had brought into Amiens forty peeces
of artillery, and a great quantity of pouder, intending
there to make a magazine of munition for the next
Sommers wars, understanding also that the citizens of
165
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Amiens were stout and mutinous, and had refused a
garrison of Switzers, which the French King would have
sent them ; informed the Archduke of this, and used
meanes to hold further intelligence with some of the most
mutinous within the towne : in confidence whereof he
framed this plot. Upon the tenth of March he caused
Soldiers forty or fifty souldiers to be attired like peasants with
attired like fardels upon their heads and shoulders, and pistols and
Peasants, daggers under their coates : and marches himselfe up to
the towne with some five thousand footemen, and seaven
hundred horsemen, and lodges them overnight in ambus-
cado neare to the town. The next morning early he sends
these disguised souldiers to the gate of the towne, called
la porte de Montrescut, who following a cart that was
going in at the gate, one after an other, as soon as ever
the cart was gotten under the portcullice, one of the
peasants untied closely a sacke of walnuttes, which he
A merry carried, and let them all fall out ; and while the corps de
device. garde, which kept the gate were scrambling to gather them
up, another of these disguised souldiers, cuts the hairness
of the horse, and so with cart and horse barricadoed, and
stopped the passage of the gate : and then the rest drew
forth their weapons, seised upon the rest that guarded the
gate, and made themselves masters of it. Then presently
they gave the Signall to Hernand Teillo, that lay under
the towne with his ambuscado : so he with al his men
[p. 17.] came by troupes unto the towne, got up to the market
place, seised themselves of all the fortresses and Churches,
of the Arsenal, and all the munition at noone day, whiles
the people were at the sermon, and so made themselves
masters of the towne, without any manner of resistance.
The French King presently resolved to beleaguer it againe,
caused great forces to be levied out of France, yea and out
of the most parts of Europe, and particularly foure
thousand out of England, who did speciall service in the
siege. He made the Marshall of Biron, Lieutenant
generall of his army : and though the Archduke came
with a great power to succour the besieged, yet the
166
OBSERVATIONS OF AMIENS
French Kings men continued the siege so resolutely, the
Kings owne presence and the arrival of all the best
commanders of France so encouraged and strengthned
them that they defeated divers of the Archdukes forces ;
Hernand Teillo was slaine in defence of a fort the third Hernnnd
of September, which much comforted them also. At Teillo slain.
last the King and his army charged the Archduke and
his forces so close, that he forced them to retire : and so
being retired seaven leagues from the towne, upon the
nineteenth of September, the towne yeelded upon com
position after the siege of sixe moneths and somewhat
more ; and the five and twentieth of September, all the The Spanian
Spanish forces marched out of the towne, with bagge march out.
and baggage, colours displaied and drum beaten, which
were in all about two thousand footemen, and five hundred
horsemen, a hundred and threescore carts laden with
baggage, and some thousand women of the towne. After
they were gone forth, the King entred the towne with a
thousand Gentlemen on horseback, and sung a Te Deum
in the Cathedrall Church, and so hath ever since held the
towne. Thus much of Amiens.
ITooke my journey from Amiens towards Paris in [p. 18.]
Coach, the twentieth day of May being friday, about
two of the clocke in the afternoone, and came that night
by seaven of the clocke in the evening, to a village in
the country fourteen miles therehence called Bretueil. Breteuil.
In that space I observed only these two things, a village
exceedingly ransacked and ruinated, by meanes of the civil
warres. And about some few miles on this side Bretueil,
certaine vineyards which were the first that ever I saw.
I went from Bretueil on Saturday, being the one and
twentieth of May, about five of the clocke in the morning,
and came about noone to a towne in the Province of
Beauvoisis called Clermont, situate upon the toppe of a Ckrmont.
hill, being fourteen miles from Bretueil. This Clermont
is a meane and ignoble place, having no memorable thing
therein worthy the observation. Only I talked with a
167
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A Friar born certaine Franciscan Frier there, borne in Ireland, who
seemed to be a pretty Schollar and a man of good parts.
He was then travelling to Abbevile to preach there. I
observed this in him, that he was as well able to discourse
of al particular politique and state matters of England, as
any man in our company : and hee spake passing good
English. This also I observed in Clermont, in the
middest of a streete there was erected a gibbet with the
A picture picture of a certaine fellow called Antony Peel, who was
hanged instead painted hanging on a gallowes in the same picture. Under
the which his offence was mentioned by way of a pro
clamation for apprehending of him. The reason why his
picture was set forth in that manner, was this : That as
his picture was there hanged, so should he also if he might
be apprehended. This custome is observed in many
places of France.
The Castle of In this towne is an old decayed Castle, belonging in
Clermont. auncient time to the Counts of Clermont, the first of
whom Robert was youngest sonne to Saint Lewes King
[p- *9-] of France, and from whom Henry the 4, King of France
and Navarre, lately slaine by that butcherly Ravilliacke,
was lineally descended.
I departed from Clermont about three of the clocke in
the afternoone, and about sixe of the clocke came to a
little towne hard by the ferry where we were transported
Saint Liew. i n t o the He of France, called Saint Liew. This was
twelve miles from Clermont : in this space I observed no
memorable thing.
The next morning being Trinity Sunday about foure
of the clocke, I was transported over a river called the
Oyse, which doth part Picardie from the He of France.
Saint Brixe. That day I dined at a Parish called Saint Brixe, which was
twelve miles beyond Saint Liew. Betwixt Saint Liew and
Saint Brixe I observed these things. An exceeding rich
and fertile country, full of corne, especially rie, meadowes,
pastures, wooddes, many sweete rivers, a great multitude
of goodly and sumptuous houses on both sides as we rod,
most whereof were said to be the Advocates of Paris.
168
OBSERVATIONS OF SAINT DENIS
Also many goodly rowes of wall-nutte trees, about three
or foure miles after we were entred into the Isle, the
fairest that ever I saw till then, about two hundred at the
least in a row. About two miles on this side Saint Brixe,
there is a most magnificent Palace built of faire white The Palace of
free stone with many lofty turrets on the toppe of a hill, E scovan -
in a beautifull parke. The place is called Escovan. This
place belongeth to Monsieur Montmorencie the high
Constable of France, who hath seaventeene Townes and
Parishes in the country belonging to it, which are very
neare bordering about it.
I went from St. Brixe about one of the clocke in the
afternoone, and came to Paris, which was eight miles
therehence, about sixe of the clocke that day : the things
that I observed betwixt St. Brixe and Paris were these :
seven faire Pillars of free stone erected by an equall
distance from each other, betwixt St. Denis and Paris, [p- 20
In each of these is erected the Image of St. Denis the ts
Areopagite in stone, with his two companions Rusticus
and Eucherius. This S. Denis was S. Pauls Disciple,
and the first that preached the Gospell to the Gaules.
There is a certaine speech of his written in some of the
Ecclesiasticall authors, which is this : Aut Deus naturae
patitur, aut mundi machina dissoluetur. He spake that
in Egypt whither he betooke himselfe for learning sake,
when he saw that admirable eclipse of the Sunne, which
was at the time of Christs passion, being mentioned in
the sacred Evangelists. The reason why these pillars A miracle too
or crosses are erected to the honour of S. Denis, is, S reat to be
because they report (and indeed the legend of Saints, true
which was composed by Jacob de Voragine Bishop of
Genua affirmeth it) that when he walked betwixt Paris
(where he was beheaded for the Gospell sake) and a pretty
towne four miles from it, which is now called by his
name, he rested seven times by the way with his head
in his hand, before he came to the towne. A miracle too
great to be true, though indeed I heard of the like
example in Zurich the Metropolitan City of Swicerland,
169
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Julius
F
as I will hereafter mention in my observations of that
Citie.
Gallows on A little on this side Paris, even at the towns end, there
MountFalcon. j s t he fayrest Gallowes that ever I saw, built upon a little
hillocke called Mount Falcon, which consisteth of four-
teene fair pillars of free-stone : this gallowes was made
in the time of the Guisian massacre, to hang the Admiral
of France Chatillion, who was a Protestant, Anno Dom.
1572.
My Observations of Paris.
Caesar Scaliger hath written this hexastichon
in praise of Paris.
(Rancigense Princeps populosa Lutetia gentis
Exerit immensum clara sub astra caput.
[p. 21.] Hie civis numerum, ars precium, sapientia finem
Exuperant, superant thura precesque Deos.
Audiit obstupuitque hospes, factusque viator
Videt, & haud oculis credidit ipse suis.
The Great- This Citie is exceeding great, being no lesse then ten
ness of Paris, miles in circuit, very populous, and full of very goodly
buildings, both publique and private, whereof the greatest
part are of faire white free-stone : wherewith it is naturally
more plentifully furnished then any Citie of Christendome
that ever I read or heard of. For the whole citie, together
with the suburbes, is situate upon a quarre of free stone,
which doth extend it selfe to a great part of the territorie
round about the citie, and ministreth that inexhausted
plenty of stone for their houses. It is round and invironed
with very auncient stone wals that were built by Julius
Caesar when he made his residence here in the midst of his
French conquests, from whom some have not doubted in
former times to call it the citie of Julius. In those wals
it hath at this time fourteene faire gates. As for her
name of Paris, she hath it (as some write) from Paris the
eighteenth King of Gallia Celtica, whom some write to
have been lineally descended from Japhet, one of the three
sonnes of Noah, and to have founded this citie : but the
170
OBSERVATIONS OF PARIS
name of Lutetia it doth well brooke, Conveniunt rebus Dirty Stre,
nomina saepe suis, being so called from the latin word
Lutum, which signifieth durt, because many of the streetes
are the durtiest, and so consequently the most stinking of
all that ever I saw in any citie in my life. It is divided
into three parts, the University, the Citie, and the Town
by the noble river Sequana, commonly called la riviere de
Seine, which springeth from a certaine hill of Burgundy
called Voga, neare to the people of Langres, in Latin
Lingones. The University whereof I can speake very The
little, (for to my great griefe I omitted to observe those University.
particulars in the same that it behoved an observative [p. 22.]
traveller, having seene but one of their principall Col-
ledges, which was their famous Sorbona, that fruitfull
nursery of Schoole-divines) was instituted in the yeare
796, by the good Emperor Charles the great, who used
the helpe of our learned Countreyman Alcuinus his
Master, and the Schollar of Venerable Beda in the erecting
thereof. But to returne againe to the noble River Seine :
There was building over it when I was in the Citie, a
goodly Bridge of white free-stone, which was almost Bridges
ended. Also there is another famous bridge in this Citie, the
which farre excelleth this before mentioned, having one
of the fairest streetes of all the Citie, called our Ladies
street, in French la rue de nostre Dame built upon it.
I have heard that Jucundus a certain Bishop of this citie,
built this bridge ; of whom I have likewise heard this
elegant distichon :
Jucundus duplicem struxit tibi Sequana pontem,
Hunc tu jure potes dicere Pontificem.
He calls it Duplicem, because there was another bridge
neare unto that called the little bridge, built by the same
man at the same time.
Besides there are three faire bridges more built upon
this river, whereof the one is called the bridge of exchange,
where the Gold-smiths dwell, S. Michaels bridge, and
the bridge of birdes, formerly called the millers bridge.
171
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The reason why it is called the bridge of birdes, is, because
all the signes belonging unto shops on each side of the
streete are signes of birds.
TheCatkedrd The Cathedrall Church is dedicated to our Lady, which
Church of is nothing so faire as our Lady Church of Amiens : for
Our Lady. j could see no notable matter in it, saving the statue of
St. Christopher on the right hand at the coming in of the
great gate, which indeed is very exquisitely done, all the
rest being but ordinary, as I have seene in other Churches,
The street which is called la rue de nostre Dame (as I
[p. 23.] have before written) that is, our Lady streete is very
faire, being of a great length, though not so broad as our
Cheapside in London : but in one thing it exceedeth any
street in London ; for such is the uniformity of almost al
the houses of the same streete which stand upon the bridge,
that they are made alike both in proportion of workman
ship and matter : so that they make the neatest shew of all
the houses in Paris.
The Via Jacobaea is very full of booke-sellers that have
faire shoppes most plentifully furnished with bookes.
The Exchange I was at the *Pallace where there is the exchange, that
f the is a place where the Marchants doe meete at those times
Merchants. Q f ^ ^^ ag our ]y[ arc h ants joe m London. But it is
nothing comparable to the place of our Marchants meeting
in London, being a plaine pitched walke subdio, that is
under the open ayre. As for their exchange where they
sell many fine and curious things, there are two or three
pretty walks in it, but neither for length, nor for the roofe,
nor the exquisite workmanship is it any way to be com
pared with ours in London. In this Palace there are
sundry faire buildings, whereof one is very spacious and
broad, and of a great heigth, adorned with many goodly
pillars of free-stone, wherein the Advocats and civil
Lawyers with many others do walke ; and it serveth the
French men in that manner as our Westminster hall doth
us English men. A little within this hall there is another
goodly and beautiful roome, wherein the Judges sit in
* Built by Philip the faire, Anno 1313.
172
OBSERVATIONS OF PARIS
judgment : there do the Advocats and Civilians pleade, The hall of
and discusse matters of controversie. There I saw two Judgment.
grave auncient Judges sit in judgment in their scarlet
gownes, accompanied at the bench with many other
Civilians that were attired in blacke gownes, with certaine
tippets and formalities that they weare upon pleading days,
as the badges of their profession. The roofe of this roome
is very rich, being sumptuously gilt and embossed with
an exceeding multitude of great and long bosses hanging
downward, which were likewise gilt.
I went the three and twentieth of May being [p. 24.]
Trinity Munday in the afternoone to the Kings Palace, The Kings
which is called the Loure : this was first built by Philip
Augustus King of Fraunce, about the yeare 1214, and
being afterward ruined by time, was most beautifully
repaired by Henry the second. Therein I observed these
particulars : A faire quadrangular Court, with goodly
lodgings about it foure stories high, whose outside is
exquisitely wrought with white free-stone, and decked
with many stately pillars and beautiful Images made of
the same stone. As we go up towards the hall there are
three or foure paire of staires, whereof one paire is passing
c s c --ru c
faire, consisting or very many greeses. 1 he roore over
these staires is exceeding beautifull, being made ex forni-
cato seu concamerato opere, vaulted with very sumptuous
frettings or chamferings, wherein the formes of clusters of
grapes and many other things are most excellently
contrived. The great chamber is very long, broad and
high, having a gilt roofe and richly embossed : the next
chamber within it, which is the Presence, is very faire,
being adorned with a wondrous sumptuous roofe, which
though it be made but of timber worke, yet it is exceeding
richly gilt, and with that exquisite art, that a stranger upon
the first view thereof, would imagine it were either latten
or beaten gold.
I was also in a chamber wherein Queene Mary doth The Queen s
often lie, where I saw a certaine kinde of raile which Chamber.
encompasseth the place where her bedde is wont to be,
73
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
having little pretty pillars richly gilt. After this I went
into a place which for such a kinde of roome excelleth in
my opinion, not only al those that are now in the world,
but also all whatsoever that ever were since the creation
The Gallery, thereof, even a gallery, a perfect description whereof wil
require a large volume. It is divided into three parts, two
sides at both the ends, and one very large and spacious
[p. 25.] walke. One of the sides when I was there, was almost
ended, having in it many goodly pictures of some of the
Kings and Queenes of France, made most exactly in
wainscot, and drawen out very lively in oyle workes upon
the same. The roofe of most glittering and admirable
beauty, wherein is much antique worke, with the picture
of God and the Angels, the Sunne, the Moone, the
Starres, the Planets, and other Celestiall signes. Yea so
unspeakeably faire it is, that a man can hardly comprehend
it in his minde, that hath not first scene it with his bodily
The long eyes. The long gallery hath at the entrance therof a
Gallery. goodly dore, garnished with foure very sumptuous marble
pillers of a flesh colour, interlaced with some veines of
white. It is in breadth about ten of my paces, and above
five hundred in length, which maketh at the least half a
mile. Also there are eight and forty stately partitions of
white free stone on each side of this long gallery, each
being about some twelve foote long, betwixt the which
there are faire windowes : the walles of the gallery are
Walls two about two yardes thicke at the least. The gallery is
yards thick, covered with blew slatte like our Cornish tile. In the
outside of one of the walles neare to the River Seine,
there are four very stately pillers of white free stone,
most curiously cut with sundry faire workes, that give
great ornament to the outward frontispice of the worke.
On the west side of the gallery there is a most beautifull
garden divided into eight severall knots. The long
gallery, when I was there was imperfect, for there was
but halfe of the walke boorded, and the roofe very rude,
the windowes also and the partitions not a quarter finished.
For it is reported that the whole long gallery shall be
OBSERVATIONS OF PARIS
made correspondent to the first side that is almost ended.
At the end of the long gallery there were two hundred Two Hundred
masons working on free stone every day when I was there, Masons.
to make an end of that side which must answere the first
side that is almost ended. Neare to which side there is
a goodly Pallace called the Tuilleries, where the Queene [p- 2 ^-]
mother was wont to lie, and which was built by her selfe.
This Pallace is called the Tuilleries, because heretofore The Palace of
they used to burne tile there, before the Pallace was built. the Tuileries.
For this French word Tuillerie doth signifie in the French
a place for burning of tile.
The sixe and twentieth day of May being Thursday,
and Corpus Christi day, I went to the foresaid Pallace
which shall be joyned to the Loure by that famous gallery,
when it is once ended.
This Palace of the Tuilleries is a most magnificent
building, having in it many sumptuous roomes. The The Chamber
chamber of Presence is exceeding beautifull, whose roofe of Presence.
is painted with many antique workes, the sides and endes
of this chamber are curiously adorned with pictures made
in oyleworke upon wainscot, wherein amongst many other
things the nine Muses are excellently painted. One of
the inner chambers hath an exceeding costly roofe gilt, in
which chamber there is a table made of so many severall
colours of marble, and so finely inlayed with yvorie, (which Ivory Work.
kinde of worke is called in Latin cerostratum) that it is
thought to be worth above five hundred pound. The
staires very faire, at the edge whereof there is a goodly
raile of white stone, supported with little turned pillers
of brasse. The staires are winding having a stately roofe
with open spaces like windowes to let in the aire. On
the southside of the Pallace there is a faire walke leaded,
but without any roofe, where I saw a goodly peece of
Jeate in the wall of a great length and breadth. But it
was so hackled that it seemed to be much blemished.
There is a most pleasant prospect from that walke over
the railes into the Tuillerie garden, which is the fairest
garden for length of delectable walkes that ever I saw,
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Tuileries
Garden.
[P- 27-]
A Fish Pond.
Pompous
Ceremonies on
CorpusChristi
Day.
but for variety of delicate fonts and springes, much
inferior to the Kings garden at Fountaine Beleau. There
are two walkes in this garden of an equall length, each
being 700 paces long, whereof one is so artificially roofed
over with timber worke, that the boughes of the maple
trees, wherewith the walke is on both sides beset, doe
reach up to the toppe of the roofe, and cover it cleane over.
This roofed walke hath sixe faire arbours advanced to a
great heigth like turrets. Also there is a long and spacious
plot full of hearbes and knots trimly kept by many persons.
In this garden there are two fonts wherein are two auncient
Images of great Antiquity made of stone. Also there
is a faire pond made foure square, and built all of stone
together with the bottome, wherein there is not yet either
fish or water, but shortly it shall be replenished with both.
There I saw great preparations of conduits of lead, wherein
the water shal be conveighed to that pond. At the end
of this garden there is an exceeding fine Eccho. For I
heard a certaine French man who sung very melodiously
with curious quavers, sing with such admirable art, that
upon the resounding of the Eccho there seemed three to
sound together.
Seeing I have now mentioned Corpus Christi day, I will
also make relation of those pompous ceremonies that were
publiquely solemnized that day in the streetes of the city,
according to their yearlie custome : this day the French
men call Feste de Dieu, that is, the feast of God. And
it was first instituted by Pope Urban the fourth, by the
counsell of Thomas Aquinas, a little before the raigne of
the Emperour Rodolphus Habspurgensis.
About nine of the clock the same day in the morning,
I went to the Cathedrall Church which is dedicated to
our Lady (as I have before written) to the end to observe
the strange ceremonies of that day, which for novelty sake,
but not for any harty devotion (as the KapSiayvuxrTw
God doth know) I was contented to behold, as being the
first that ever I saw of that kinde, and I hartily wish they
may be the last. No sooner did I enter into the Church
176
OBSERVATIONS OF PARIS
but a great company of Clergy men came forth singing,
and so continued all the time of the procession, till they [p- 28.]
returned unto the Church againe, some by couples, and
some single. They walked partly in coapes, whereof
some were exceeding rich, being (in my estimation) worth
at the least a hundred markes a peece ; and partly in
surplices. Also in the same traine there were many
couples of little singing choristers, many of them not Little Singing
above eight or nine yeares old, and few above a dozen : Choristers.
which prety innocent punies were so egregiously deformed
by those that had authority over them, that they could
not choose but move great commiseration in any relenting
spectator. For they had not a quarter so much haire left
upon their heads as they brought with them into the
world, out of their mothers wombs, being so clean shaved
away round about their whole heads that a man could
perceive no more then the very rootes. A spectacle very
pittifull (me thinks) to behold, though the Papists esteeme
it holy. The last man of the whole traine was the Bishop The Bishop of
of Paris, a proper and comly man as any I saw in all the Par "-
city, of some five and thirty yeares old. He walked not
sub dio, that is, under the open aire, as the rest did. But
he had a rich cannopy carried over him, supported with
many little pillers on both sides. This did the Priests
carry : he himselfe was that day in his sumptuous Ponti-
ficalities, wearing religious ornaments of great price, like
a second Aaron, with his Episcopall staffe in his hand,
bending round at the toppe, called by us English men a
Croisier, and his Miter on his head of cloth of silver,
with two long labels hanging downe behind his neck. As The streets
for the streets of Paris they were more sumptuously sum j> tuoui fy
adorned that day then any other day of the whole yeare,
every street of speciall note being on both sides thereof,
from the pentices of their houses to the lower end of the
wall hanged with rich cloth of arras, and the costliest
tapistry that they could provide. The shewes of our
Lady street being so hyperbolical in pomp that day, that
it exceeded the rest by many degrees. And for the greater [p. 29.]
c.c. 177 M
Artificial
Rocks.
TheSacrament
of (he Altar.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
addition of ornament to this feast of God, they garnished
Rick Plate many of their streets with as rich cupboords of plate as
exposed. ever I saw J n a }l m y Hf e . For they exposed upon their
publique tables exceeding costly goblets, and what not
tending to pompe, that is called by the name of plate.
Upon the middest of their tables stood their golden
Crucifixes, with divers other gorgeous Images. Likewise
in many places of the city I observed hard by those cup
boords of plate, certayne artificiall rocks, most curiously
contrived by the very quintessence of arte, with fine water
spowting out of the cocks, mosse growing thereon, and
little sandy stones proper unto rockes, such as we call in
Latin tophi : Wherefore the foresaid sacred company,
perambulating about some of the principall streets of
Paris, especially our Lady street, were entertained with
most divine honours. For wheras the Bishop carried the
Sacrament, even his consecrated wafer cake, betwixt the
Images of two golden Angels, whensoever he passed by
any company, all the spectators prostrated themselves most
humbly upon their knees, and elevated their handes with
all possible reverence and religious behaviour, attributing
as much divine adoration to the little wafer cake, which
they call the Sacrament of the Altar, as they could doe to
Jesus Christ himselfe, if he were bodily present with them.
If any Godly Protestant that hateth this superstition,
should happen to be amongst them when they kneele, and
forbeare to worship the Sacrament as they doe, perhaps he
may be presently stabbed or otherwise most shamefully
abused, if there should be notice taken of him. After
they had spent almost two houres in these pompous (I will
not say theatricall) shewes, they returned again to our Lady
Church, where was performed very long and tedious
Solemn devotion, for the space of two houres, with much excellent
Masses. singing, and two or three solemne Masses, acted by the
[p. 30.] Bishops owne person. With his crimson velvet gloves
and costly rings upon his fingers, decked with most
glittering gemmes. Moreover, the same day after dinner
I saw the like shew performed by the Clergy in the holy
178
OBSERVATIONS OF PARIS
procession in the morning. Queene Margarite the Kings
divorced wife being carried by men in the open streets
under a stately cannopy : and about foure of the clocke,
they made a period of that solemnity, all the Priests
returning with their Sacrament to our Lady Church, where
they concluded that dayes ceremonies with their Vespers.
There are not Termes in Paris as in London, but one
Terme only, that continueth the whole yeare, so that every
weeke in the yeare, saving in the vintage time, which is in
September, the Civilians meete together at the Palace for
the debating of matters of controversie. But they do not
repaire to Paris for matters of justice from all the parts of
France, as in England we doe to London from al the
remotest shires of our land, because it would be both an
exceeding charge and trouble to the inhabitants of the
country to be drawen to Paris, the head city of the land,
seing some of the people dwell at the least four or five
hundred miles from Paris. Therefore for the avoiding of
this inconvenience, they keepe their Courts of Parliament
in certaine principall cities, unto the which all they that
dwell in that Dominion, whereof the city is head, make
their repaire for determining their suites of law : these
cities are in number eight. Paris in the Isle of France :
Tholosa in Languedoc : Rouen in Normandy : Burdeaux
in Aquitaine : Aix in Province : Gratianopolis, alias
Grenoble, in Dolphinie : Dijon in Burgundie : Rhenes in
little Britaine.
I observed in Paris great aboundance of mules, which
are so highly esteemed amongst them, that the Judges and
Counsellers doe usually ride on them with their foot clothes.
Also I noted that Gentlemen and great Personages in
Paris doe more ride with foote-clothes, even foure to one
then our English gentlemen doe.
They report in Paris that the thorny crowne wherewith
Christ was crowned on the Crosse is kept in the Palace,
which upon Corpus Christi day in the afternoone was
publiquely shewed, as some told me, but it was not my
chance to see it. Truely I wonder to see the contrarieties
179
Queen
Margaret.
Courts of
Parliament
kept in eight
principal
Cities.
[P- 3I-]
The Crown of
Thorns.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Vanities amongst the Papists, and most ridiculous vanities concern-
Re/icf" ln their reliques, but especially about this of Christs
thorny crowne. For whereas I was after that at the city
of Vicenza in Italy, it was told me, that in the Monastery
of the Dominican Fryers of that citie, this crown was kept,
which St. Lewes King of France bestowed upon his
brother Bartholomew Bishop of Vicenza, and before one
of the Dominican Family : wherefore I went to the
Dominican Monastery, and made suit to see it, but I had
the repulse ; for they told me that it was kept under three
or four lockes, and never shewed to any, by any favour
whatsoever, but only upon Corpus Christi day. If then
this crowne of Paris, whereof they so much bragge, be
true, that of Vincenza is false : * Lo the truth and
certainty of Papistical reliques. I lay at the house of a
certain French Protestant in the suburbes of St. Germans,
who in the civill warres fought against the Papists, and
was most grievously wounded, who shewed me his
wounds. His name was Monsieur de la Roy.
I enjoyed one thing in Paris, which I most desired above
all other things, and oftentimes wished for before I saw
the citie, even the sight and company of that rare ornament
Isaac of learning Isaac Casaubonus, with whom I had much
Casaubon. familiar conversation at his house, near unto St. Germans
gate within the citie. I found him very affable and
courteous, and learned in his discourses, and by so much
the more willing to give me entertainment, by how much
the more I made relation to him of his learned workes,
[p- 3 2 -] whereof some I have read. For many excellent bookes
hath this man (who is the very glory of the French
Protestants) set forth, to the great benefite and utility of
the Common-weale of learning : as all the workes of
Aristotle Greek and Latin, though indeed the Latin trans
lation of other men : annotations upon Strabo, Diogenes
Laertius, Suetonius, Plinies Epistles, Theocritus and
Persius : Athenaeus illustrated with a learned Commen
tary : Theophrasti characters : Polybius translated : a
* If that of Vincenza be true, this of Paris is false.
180
OBSERVATIONS OF PARIS
learned Discourse de Satira Romana & Grseca : Apuleii
Apologia : Gregorii Nysseni Epistola de euntibus Hiero-
solyman : Inscriptio antiqua : Historia Augusta : with
which excellent fruits of his rare learning he hath purchased
himselfe great fame in most places of the Christian world.
Surely I beleeve he is a man as famous in France for his
admirable knowledge in the polite learning and liberall
sciences, as ever was Gulielmus Budeus in his time.
Lately hath this peerlesse man made a happy transmigra- Isaac
tion out of France into our renowned Island of great Casaubonnow
Britaine, to the great joy of the learned men of our Nation, ln Bnfatn -
whom he doth exceedingly illuminate with the radiant
beames of his most elegant learning ; my selfe having had
the happinesse to enjoy his desirable commerce once since
his arrivall here. Two most memorable notes I derived
from him, which I shall not this long time commit to
oblivion : whereof the one was, that it was great pitty
there is not found some learned man in England that
would write the life and death of Queene Elizabeth in
some excellent stile, that might propagate the memory of A worthy
so famous, religious, and learned a Queene to posterity, enterprise.
as a lively patterne for other Christian Princes, if not to
imitate, at the least to admire. Certainly it is greatly to
be wished that some notable man of profound learning
(with whom our Kingdom is as plentifully furnished, in
my opinion, as any nation of al Christendome) would
undertake this so laudable a taske, wherewith he might [p. 33.]
immortalize and consecrate to eternity the rare gifts of
that incomparable Queene, most deservedly called the
Phoenix of her sex : a worke that would be very acceptable
(being exquisitely handled) not onely to the learned men
of our owne Nation, but also to al forraine Countries that
embrace the reformed religion. I would to God that these
few lines wherein I have made relation of that learned
mans speeches, may minister occasion to some singular
scholler to take in hand this worthy enterprise. The other
was, that I might see the next morning (if I would be
abroad in the streetes) a certaine prophane and superstitious
181
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The ceremony ceremony of the Papists, which might be very fitly com-
ofcarrymgthe p are d to a ceremony of the Pagans in Greece, called
TraiTTocfropia, which signified the carrying of a bedde.
For even as they carried a bedde abroad in solemne
procession upon certaine dayes, with the Images of some
of their gods upon it : so may you to morrow morning
being Corpus Christi day (sayd he) see in the streets of
this City a bedde carried after a very Ethnicall manner, or
rather a Cannopy in the forme of a bedde, under the
which the Bishop of the city with certaine Priests that
carry the Sacrament do walke ; which indeed I saw per
formed with a great company of strange ceremonies, as I
have before written.
In the Church of St. Germans Abbey, which is in the
Suburbes of the City, I saw a gray Frier shrift a faire
Gentlewoman, which I therefore mention because it was
the first shrifting that ever I saw. Thus much of Paris.
I
Went to S. Denis, which is foure miles from Paris,
the foure and twentieth of May, being Tuesday, after
dinner, where I saw many remarkable and memorable
[p- 34-] things. I passed through a Cloyster before I came into
the Church. These are the particulars that I saw : in a
certaine loft or higher roome of the Church I saw the
Images of the images of many of the French Kings, set in certain woden
French Kings cupbords, whereof some were made onely to the middle
at 5. Dems. w ^ tne r Crownes on their heads. But the Image of
the present King is made at length with his Parliament
roabes, his gowne lined with ermins, and his crowne on
his head. There also I saw the crowne wherewith the
Kings of France are crowned, and another wherewith the
Queenes are crowned, being very rich and beset with
many pretious stones of exceeding worth : the gowne faced
with ermins, which they weare upon the day of their
inauguration : their bootes, which they weare then also,
being of watchet Velvet, wherein many Flower de-luces
are curiously wrought : their spurres of beaten gold ; a
sword of King Salomons, whose handle was massie golde :
182
OBSERVATIONS OF SAINT DENIS
his drinking cuppe made of a rich kinde of stone : a rich
drinking cup of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster : two Treasures
Crucifixes of inestimable worth, beset with wonderfull
variety of precious stones, as Carbuncles, Rubies,
Diamonds, &c. two Scepters of massie gold that the King
and Queene do carrie in their handes at their coronation : a
representation of our Lady Church in Paris, made of
silver, being a monument of exceeding value ; for it
containeth the riches of our Lady Church, as gold and
jewels, &c. All these things I saw in that roome. When
I went out of that loft, I descended a paire of staires, and
came into the Quire, where very neare to the high Altar,
I saw the Sepulchres and monuments of the auncient Kings Monuments of
and Queenes of France, made in Alabaster. Amongst the the ancient
rest, the monument of Carolus Calvus King of France, Kings of
and afterward Emperour, who bestowed on that Church
one of the nayles wherewith Christ was crucified, as they
affirme : that nayle I saw set in a faire peece of silver plate
double gilt, at the top whereof there was a silver Theca [p. 35.]
or Sheath, which contained the nayle. This Carolus lived
about the yeare 841, and died in Mantua, as I will here
after declare in my observations of that Citie. A most
inestimable rich crosse, very gorgeously adorned with
wondrous abundance of pretious stones of divers sorts,
which King Dagobert, who was the founder of that
Church, bestowed upon it : a Font of baptisme, made of
porphyrie stone which was also bestowed on that Church
by the said King, who after he had conquered Poitiers
brought it there hence to this Church. The same Dago-
berts monument I saw there, and under his Effigies this
Epitaph is written :
FIngitur hac specie bonitatis odore refertus
Istius Ecclesiae fundator Rex Dagobertus
Justitiae cultor, cunctis largus dator aeris :
Affuit & sceleris ferus ac promptissimus ultor.
Armipotens bellator erat, velutique procella
Hostes confregit, populosque per arma subegit.
183
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Carolus Also the monument of Carolus Martellus the grandfather
Martellus, Q f c aro j us Magnus. He was a very renowned and famous
man in his time, Duke of Brabant, and stiled in Latin by
the title of Major domus, that is, the prefect of the Kings
house : a very eminent title of dignitie used in those days
in the French Court ; which whosoever enjoyed (as did
this Martellus for the space of six and twenty yeares) was
esteemed the principal man of all France next to the
King. This man is much ennobled by many classical
Historiographers for his worthy exploits, especially for
that most glorious victory that he got of Abidirimus king
of the Saracins, whom he slew neare the citie of Tours in
France, together with his whole armie that contained three
hundred and seventie five thousand men ; but of his owne
side he lost but one thousand and five hundred persons.
The Epitaph written upon his Tombe is this :
[p- 36.] TLle Brabantinus Dux primus in orbe triumphans,
JL Malleus in mundo specialis Christicolarum,
Dux Dominusque Ducum, Regum quoque Rex fore
spernit,
Non vult regnare, sed Regibus imperat ipse.
Besides the Tombe of Carolus, which was the eldest of
Carolus Magnus three sonns, by his second wife Hilde-
gardis, daughter of the famous Godfrey Duke of
Almannie. This Carolus was by his father made king
An Unicorn s of Germany : an Unicornes home valued at one hundred
thousand crownes, being about three yardes high, even
so high that I could hardly reach to the top of it : the
monument of the late Queene mother Katharine de
Medicis, exceeding richly made of Alabaster with her
statue, and her husbands upon it Henry the second. This
Tombe is valued at twenty thousand crownes, at two
corners whereof there are two very sumptuous Images
that represent Virgins made of a rich kind of mettall : each
of those Images cost two thousand crownes. About the
Tombe are many rich marble pillars, whose base is made
of marble also : an exceeding rich shrine, wherein the
184
horn.
The Queen
Mother s
Monument,
OBSERVATIONS OF FONTAINEBLEAU
body of St. Denis the Deus Tutelaris, or Patron of St. Denis the
Fraunce was intombed, with his two companions Rusticus Pafrc
and Eucherius. Upon that shrine I saw St. Denis his
head inclosed in a wonderful rich helmet, beset with
exceeding abundance of pretious stones : but the skull it
selfe I saw not plainly, only the forepart of it I beheld
through a pretty crystall glasse by the light of a waxen
candle. Moreover amongst many other monuments I saw
the monument of the Cardinal! of Bourbon, and his
statue very curiously made over it in Cardinals habites
with his armes and scutchin. Thus much of St. Denis
Abbay.
PEter Molinus a most famous and learned Protestant Peter
preacheth usually every second Sunday at a place Molinus.
called Charenton, about four miles from Paris, where [p. 37.]
he hath a very great Audience, sometimes at the least
five thousand people. There preach also two other very
learned men, Monsieur Durand, and Monsieur de
Montigny.
The eight and twentieth day of May, being Saturday,
I rode in post from Paris about one of the clocke in the
afternoone to the kings stately Palace of Fountaine Beleau,
which is eight and twenty miles from Paris, and came
thither about eight of the clocke in the morning : the
king kept his Court here at that time.
A little after I was past the last stage saving one,
where I tooke post-horse towards Fountaine Beleau,
there happened this chance : My horse began to be so A grievous
tiry, that he would not stirre one foote out of the way,
though I did even excarnificate his sides with my often
spurring of him, except he were grievously whipped :
whereupon a Gentleman of my company, one Master I. H.
tooke great paines with him to lash him : at last when he
saw he was so dul that he could hardly make him go with
whipping, he drew out his Rapier and ranne him into
his buttocke neare to his fundament, about a foote deep
very neare. The Guide perceived not this before he
185
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
came to the next stage, neither there before we were going
away. My friend lingred with me somewhat behinde our
company, and in a certain poole very diligently washed
the horses wound with his bare handes ; thinking thereby
to have stopped his bleeding ; but he lost his labour, as
much as he did that washed the ^Ethiopian : for the bloud
ranne out a fresh notwithstanding all his laborious washing.
Now when the guide perceived it, he grew so extreame
cholericke, that he threatned Mr. I. H. he would goe
to Fountaine Beleau, and complaine to the Postmaster
against him, except he would give him satisfaction ; so
that he posted very fast for a mile or two towards the
court. In the end Mr. I. H. being much perplexed, and
finding that there was no remedy but that he must needes
grow to some composition with him, unlesse he would
[p- 3 8 -] sustaine some great disgrace, gave him sixe French
crownes to stop his mouth.
This Palace hath his name from the faire springs and
fountaines, wherewith it is most abundantly watered, that
I never saw so sweete a place before ; neither doe I thinke
that all Christendome can yeeld the like for abundance
of pleasant springs.
The forest of About some three or four miles before I came to
Fontdnebleau. Fountaine Beleau, I passed through part of that forrest,
which is called Fountaine Beleau forrest, which is very
great and memorable for exceeding abundance of great
massy stones in it, whereof many millions are so great
that twenty carts, each being drawen with ten Oxen,
are not able to move one of them out of their place.
The plenty of them is so great both in the forrest and
neare unto it, that many hils and dales are exceeding
full of them, in so much that a man being a farre off
from the hils and other places whereon they grow, would
thinke they were some great city or towne. Also in the
same forrest are many wild Bores and wild Stagges.
1 86
OBSERVATIONS OF FONTAINEBLEAU
My Observations of Fountaine Beleau.
THis Pallace is more pleasantly situate then any that The Palace of
ever I saw, even in a valley neare to the Forrest on Fontainrf/eau.
both sides. A little way off there are those rocky hils
whereof I have already spoken. There are three or foure
goodly courts fairely paved with stone belonging to it.
In the first there is an exquisite pourtraiture of a great
horse made of white stone, with a pretty covering over
it contrived with blew slatte. The second is farre fairer,
wherein there is a gallery sub dio, railed with yron railes,
that are supported with many little yron pillers. In the
third which leadeth to the fonts and walkes are two
Sphinges very curiously carved in brasse, and two Images [p. 39.]
likewise of Savage men carved in brasse that are set in a
hollow place of the wall neare to those Sphinges. The
Poets write that there was a monster neare the city of
Thebes in Boeotia, in the time of King Oedipus, which
had the face of a maide, the body of a dogge, the wings
of a bird, the nailes of a Lyon, and the taile of a Dragon,
which was called Sphinx, according to which forme these
Sphinges were made. In this Court there is a most A Sweet
sweet spring or fountaine, in the middest whereof there Spring.
is an artificiall rocke very excellently contrived, out of
the which, at foure sides, there doth spout water inces
santly through four little scollop shels, and from a little
spout at the toppe of the rocke. There are also some
pretty distance from the corners of the rocke, foure
Dolphins heads made of brasse, that doe alwaies spout
out water as the other. Hard by this font there is a
pond of very goodly great Carpes, whereof there is Great Carps.
wonderfull plenty. The whole pond is very great, but
that part of it which is derived towards this font is but
little, being invironed with a faire raile and little pillers
of free stone. In one of the gardens there is another
stately font, in whose middle there is another excellent
artificial rocke with a representation of mosse, and many
such other things as pertaine to a naturall rocke. At
187
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A Stately the toppe of it there is represented in brasse the Image
of Romulus very largely made, lying sidelong & leaning
upon one of his elbowes. Under one of his legs is
carved the shee Wolfe, with Romulus and Remus
very little, like sucklings, sucking at her teats. Also
at the four sides of this rocke there are foure Swannes
made in brasse, which doe continually spout out water,
and at the foure corners of the font there are foure
curious scollop shels, made very largely, whereon the
water doth continually flow. This font also is invironed
with a faire inclosure of white stone. Also the statue
of Hersilia, Romulus his wife, is made in brasse, and
[p. 40.] lyeth a pretty way from that fountaine, under a part of
the wall of one of the galleries. The knots of the
garden are very well kept, but neither for the curiosity
of the workemanship, nor for the matter whereof it is
made, may it compare with many of our English gardens.
The gardens of For mos( . of the b or( j ers o f each knot is made of Box,
rontatnebleau. , , , . , , ,-,-,, ,,
cut very low, and kept in very good order. Ihe walkes
about the gardens are many, whereof some are very long,
and of a convenient breadth, being fairely sanded, and
kept very cleane. One amongst the rest is inclosed with
two very lofty hedges, most exquisitely made of filbird
trees and fine fruits, and many curious arbours are made
therein. By most of these walkes there runne very
pleasant rivers full of sundry delicate fishes. The prin-
cipall spring of all which is called Fountaine Beleau,
which feedeth all the other springs and rivers, and where-
hence the Kings Pallace hath his denomination, is but
O
little, yet very faire. For Henry the fourth, who was
King when I was there, hath lately inclosed it round
about with a faire pavier of white stone, and paved the
bottome thereof whereon the water runneth, and hath
made fine seats of freestone about it, and at the west
end thereof hath advanced a goodly worke of the foresaid
white free stone, made in the torme of a wall, wherein
are displayed his armes.
Two things very worthy the observation I saw in two
188
OBSERVATIONS OF FONTAINEBLEAU
of the walkes, even two beech trees, who were very Great Beech
admirable to behold, not so much for the height ; for I eSl
have seen higher in England : but for their greatnesse.
For three men are hardly able to compasse one of them
with their armes stretched forth at length. Neare unto
a little stable of the Kings horses, which was about the
end of the walkes, I was let in at a dore to a faire greene
garden, where I saw pheasants of divers sorts, unto which
there doth repaire at some seasons such a multitude of Pheasants.
wild pheasants from the forrest, and woodes, and groves
thereabout, that it is thought there are not so few as a
thousand of them. There I saw two or three birds that [p- 4 -]
I never saw before, yet I have much read of admirable
things of them in ^lianus the polyhistor, and other
historians, even Storkes, which do much haunt many Storks kept in
cities and townes of the Netherlands, especially in the Flushing.
sommer. For in Flushing a towne of Zeland, I saw some
of them : Those men esteeming themselves happy in
whose houses they harbour, and those most unhappy
whom they forsake. These birds are white, and have
long legs, and exceeding long beakes : being destitute
of tongues as some write. We shall reade that they were
so much honoured in former times amongst the auncient
Thessalians, by reason that they destroyed the Serpents
of the country, that it was esteemed a very capital offence
for any man to kill one of them : The like punishment
being inflicted upon him that killeth a Storke, that was
upon a murderer. It is written of them that when the
old one is become so old that it is not able to helpe it A notable
selfe, the young one purveyth foode for it, and sometimes example.
carryeth it about on his backe ; and if it seeth it so
destitute of meate, that it knoweth not where to get
any sustenance, it casteth out that which it hath eaten
the day before, to the end to feede his damme. This
bird is called in Greeke TreXctjO yo?, wherehence commeth
the Greeke word avrnreXapyeev, which signifieth to
imitate the Storke in cherishing our parents. Surely it
is a notable example for children to follow in helping
189
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Three
Ostriches.
[p. 42.]
and comforting their decrepit parents, when they are not
able to helpe themselves. Besides I saw there three
Ostriches, called in Latin Struthiocameli, which are such
birds that (as Historians doe write of them) will eate
yron, as a key, or a horse shoe ; one male and two
female. Their neckes are much longer than Cranes, and
pilled, having none or little feathers about them. They
advance themselves much higher then the tallest man
that ever I saw. Also their feete and legs, which are
wonderfull long, are pilled and bare : and their thighes
together with their hinder parts are not only bare, but
also seeme very raw and redde, as if they had taken
some hurt, but indeed they are naturally so. Their
heads are covered all with small stubbed feathers : their
eies great and black : their beakes short and sharp : their
feete cloven, not unlike to a hoofe, and their nailes formed
in that manner, that I have read they will take up stones
with them, and throw at their enimies that pursue them,
and sometimes hurt them. The feathers of their wings
and tailes, but especially of their tailes are very soft and
fine. In respect whereof they are much used in the
fannes of Gentlewomen. The Authors do write that it
Foolish Birds, is a very foolish bird : for whereas hee doth sometimes
hide his necke behind a bush, he thinks that no body
sees him, though indeede he be scene of every one.
Also he is said to be so forgetfull, that as soone as he
hath laid his egges, he hath cleane forgotten them till
his young ones are hatched.
I saw two stables of the Kings horses, where in there
are only hunting horses, in both as I take it about forty ;
they were fine and faire geldings and nagges, but neither
for finesse of shape comparable to our Kings hunting
horses, nor as I take it for swiftnesse. A little without
one of the gates of the Pallace, there stood some of the
Kings guarde orderly disposed and setled in their rankes
with their muskets ready charged and set on their restes,
who doe the like alwaies day and night. Many of their
muskets were very faire, being inlayed with abundance
190
The King s
Horses.
OBSERVATIONS OF FONTAINEBLEAU
of yvorie and bone. Seing I have now mentioned the
guarde, I will make some large relation thereof according
as I informed my selfe partly at the French Court, and
partly by some conference that I have had since my
arrivall in England, with my worthy and learned friend
M. Laurence Whitaker.
The French guard consisteth partly of French, partly [p- 43-]
of Scots, and partly of Switzers. Of the French Guarde The French
there are three rankes : The first is the Regiment of the guard.
Card, which consisteth of sixteene hundred foote,
Musketeers, Harquebushers and Pikemen, which waite
always by turns, two hundred at a time before the Loure
Gate in Paris, or before the Kings house wheresoever he
lyeth. The second bee the Archers, which are under Archers.
the Captaine of the Gate, and waite in the very Gate,
whereof there be about fiftie. The third sort bee the
Gard of the body, whereof there are foure hundred, but
one hundred of them be Scots. These are Archers and 600 Switzers.
Harquebushers on horsebacke : Of the Switzers, there
is a Regiment of five hundred, which waite before the
Gate by turnes with the French Regiment, and one
hundred more who carie onely Halberts and weare
swords, who waite in the Hall of the Kings house, where
soever he lyeth. The Archers of the Garde of the body The attire of
weare long-skirted halfe-sleeved Coates made of white tfie guard.
Cloth, but their skirts mingled with Red and Greene,
and the bodies of the Cotes trimmed before and behind
with Mayles of plaine Silver, but not so thicke as the
rich Coates of the English Garde. The Switzers weare
no Coates, but doublets and hose of panes, intermingled
with Red and Yellow, and some with Blew, trimmed
with long Puffes of Yellow and Blewe Sarcenet rising up
betwixt the Panes, besides Codpieces of the like colours,
which Codpiece because it is by that merrie French writer
Rablais stiled the first and principall piece of Armour,
the Switzers do weare it as a significant Symbole of the
assured service they are to doe to the French King in
his Warres, and of the maine burden of the most laborious
191
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
imployments which lye upon them in time of Peace, as
old suresbyes to serve for all turnes. But the originall
of their wearing of Codpieces and partie-coloured clothes
grew from this ; it is not found that they wore any till
Anno 1476 at what time the Switzers tooke their revenge
IP- 44-J upon Charles Duke of Burgundie, for taking from them
a Towne called Granson within the Canton of Berne,
whom after they had defeated, and shamefully put to
flight, together with all his forces, they found there great
Great spoils, spoyles that the Duke left behind, to the valew of three
Millions, as it was said. But the Switzers being ignorant
of the valew of the richest things, tore in pieces the
most sumptuous Pavilions in the world, to make them
selves coates and breeches ; some of them sold Silver
dishes as cheape as Pewter, for two pence half-pennie a
piece, and a great Pearle hanging in a Jewell of the
Dukes for twelve pence, in memorie of which insipid
simplicite, Lewes the eleventh King of France, who
the next yeare after entertained them into his Pension,
caused them to bee uncased of their rich Clothes made
of the Duke of Burgundies Pavilions, and ordained
that they should ever after weare Suites and Codpieces
of those varyegated colours of Red and Yellow. I ob
served that all these Switzers do weare Velvet Cappes
with Feathers in them, and I noted many of them
to be very clusterfisted lubbers. As for their attire,
it is made so phantastically, that a novice newly come to
the Court, who never saw any of them before, would
halfe imagine, if he should see one of them alone with
out his weapon, hee were the Kings foole. I could
see but few roomes of the Palace, because most of the
The Scottish Scots that waited the Sunday morning when I was there,
guard. hapned to dine at a marriage of their country woman in
the towne, so that I could see them no more all that day,
otherwise they promised to have procured me the sight
of most of the principall roomes. Only I saw some
few roomes wherein the Scottish guarde doth use to waite,
and the chamber of Presence being a very beautifull
192
OBSERVATIONS OF FONTAINEBLEAU
roome, at one end whereof there was an Altar and the The chamber
picture of Christ, &c. with many other ornaments for f presence -
the celebration of the Masse : and at the other end the
fairest chimney that ever I saw, being made of perfect [p. 4.5.]
alabaster, the glory whereof appeareth especially in the A fair
workemanship betwixt the clavie of the chimney, and Chimney.
the roofe of the chamber, wherein the last King, Henry
the fourth, is excellently pourtrayed on a goodly horse,
with an honourable Elogium of his vertues, and his happy
consummation of the civil warres, written in golden letters
in Latin, above his pourtraiture. At the corners of the
toppe are most lively expressed two goodly Lyons, with
many other curious devices that doe marvailously beautifie
the worke. This chimney cost the King fourescore
thousand French crownes, which amount to foure and
twenty thousand pound starling, as a certaine Irish
Gentleman, which was then in the Presence, told me.
Before I went out of the chamber of Presence the Priest
beganne Masse, being attired in a very rich Cope. Many
of the great Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Court
repaired to the Masse. Amongst the rest there was one
great personage Monsieur le Grand, chiefe Gentleman Monsieur le
of the Kings chamber next to the Duke of Bouillon, Grand.
Master of the horse, and one of the Knights of St. Esprit,
that is, of the holy Ghost. The Ensigne of which
knighthood he wore in his cloake, which was a Crosse
of silver richly wrought therein. In the middest whereof
was expressed the effigies of a Dove, whereby is repre
sented the holy Ghost. The Irish Gentleman told me
his yearly revenues were two hundred thousand French
crownes, which do make threescore thousand pound
starling. As for this order of knighthood, it was The Order of
instituted Anno 1578, by Henry the third of that name, the Holy
King of France and Poland ; and the reason why he
intitled it the order of St. Esprit, was, for that upon the
feast of Pentecost, which we commonly call Whitsunday,
the Noblemen of Poland created him King of their
country. These Knights of the holy Ghost, together
c. c. 193 N
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
with the Knights of St. Michael, are proper only to
[p. 46.] France, as the Knights of the Toizon D or, that is, the
golden Fleece, together with the knights of St. lago,
otherwise called St. James, are to Spaine ; those of the
Annunciation to Savoy ; St. Stephano to Florence ; and
The Dauphin St. Georges knights to England. The Dolphin was
of France. expected at the Masse, but I went downe before he came
up, and met him accompanied with divers Noblemen of
the Court, comming forth of one of the gardens, who
ascended directly to the chamber of Presence to heare
Masse. He was about seven yeares old, when I was at
the Court. His face full and fat-cheeked, his haire black,
his looke vigorous and couragious, which argues a bold
and lively spirit. His speech quick, so that his wordes
seeme to flow from him with a voluble grace. His
doublet and hose were red Sattin, laced with gold lace.
The Title of The Title of Dolphin was purchased to the eldest Sonne
Dauphin. o f j^e king of France by Philip of Valoys, who beganne
his raigne in France Anno 1328. Imbert, or Hubert,
the last Count of the Province of Dolphinie and Viennois,
who was called the Dolphin of Viennois, being vexed
with the unfortunate and untimely death of his only
sonne, resolved to cloister up himselfe in a Convent of
Jacobin Friers, and to sell his Signiory to the Pope, who
was then John the two and twentieth, for a very smal
price, which Signiory was then newly created a County,
being formerly a part of the kingdome of Burgundy.
But the Nobility of his country perswaded him rather to
sell his estate to the French king, so he sold it to Philip
of Valoys, upon condition that the eldest sonne of the
king of France should ever after during his fathers life,
be called the Dolphin, and the first that bore that name
was Charles the fifth, during the life of king John his
father, which Charles beganne his raigne Anno 1364.
The Duke of Also I saw the Duke of Orleans the kings second
Orleans. sonne carried betwixt a Gentlewomans armes into the
garden. He was but a yeare and ten monthes old when
I saw him, as a Scot of the guarde told me. He is a
194
OBSERVATIONS OF FONTAINEBLEAU
marvailous full faced child. A little before him there [p- 47-]
went an other Gentlewoman, carrying a redde taffata
fanne, made in the forme of a little cannopy laced, and
fringed with silver lace, with a long handle in her hand,
which shee carryed over the childes head, to keepe away
the sunne from his face. Besides, I saw the young
Prince of Conde, being a Gentleman of the age of The Prince of
twenty yeares or thereabout : he is the next man of Con ^-
France to the King. Also I saw a worthy and gallant
gentleman of Germany, a Protestant, who hath done the
Emperor great service in his warres against the Turke :
he hath beene at our English Court, where he hath beene
very royally entertained by our king, and knighted, and
at his departure our king bestowed a very royall reward
upon him, as an Irish Gentleman told me at the French
Court. While he was in England, he was a great Tilter :
he went very richly at Fountaine Beleau. His cloake Costly attire.
gorgeously beautified partly with silver lace, and partly
with pearle. In his hat he wore a rich Ruby, as bigge as
my thumbe at the least. Thus much of Fountaine Beleau.
I Rode in post from Fountaine Beleau the nine and
twentieth of May being Sunday, about seven of the
clocke in the evening, and by eight of the clocke came
to a Countrey village called Chappel de la Royne, about Chappel de la
sixe miles from it : in which space I observed nothing tyy*e-
memorable, but onely two wilde Stags in the Forrest of
Fountaine Beleau.
Most of the crosses that I saw in Fraunce had little
boughes of boxe, set about the tops of them, and some
about the middle ; which what it meant I know not, only
I imagine it was put up upon good friday, to put men in
minde, that as Christ was that day scourged amongst
the Tews for our sins, so we should punish & whip our AL ,
i c T-I. L j f T- Abundance of
selves for our own smnes. I he abundance of Rie in R ye .
France is so great, even in every part thereof, through [p. 48.]
the which I travelled, that I thinke the hundredth part
thereof is hardly to be found in all England and Wales.
Montargis.
Walnut trees
starved by
frost.
A doleful
spectacle.
[P- 49-]
Briare.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Also I observed great store of hempe in France, such
as is more forward in growth about Whitsontide, then
most of our English hempe about Mid-summer.
I departed from Chappel de la Royne the thirtieth
day of May being Munday, about five of the clocke in
the morning, and came to a towne called Montargis,
being eighteene miles from it, about eleven of the clocke :
betwixt which places, and a few miles beyond Montargis,
I observed a thing that I much admired, that whereas
I saw an infinite abundance of Walnut-trees some few
miles on this side and beyond Montargis, almost all that
I saw on this side the Towne were so starved and
withered by the last great frost and snow (as I take it)
that happened the winter immediately before, that I could
not see as much as one leafe upon many thousand trees,
that grew partly in closes and partly in the common fields.
But all those that I saw a few miles beyond Montargis,
whereof in two severall places especially there was an
innumerable company, did flourish passing green and
beare abundance of leaves and fruit : which contrary
accident I attribute to the sterility of the ground in one
place, and to the fertility thereof in another.
At the towne Montargis there is a very goodly Castle
of the Duke of Guise strongly fortified, both by the
nature of the place, and by art : it hath many faire turrets,
and is situate in so eminent and conspicuous a part of
the towne, that it might be seene a great way off in the
Countrey.
A little on this side Montargis I saw a very dolefull
and lamentable spectacle : the bones and ragged frag
ments of clothes of a certaine murderer remayning on a
wheele, whereon most murderers are executed : the bones
were miserably broken asunder, and dispersed abroad
upon the wheele in divers places. Of this torment I
have made mention before.
I went from Montargis about one of the clocke in the
afternoone, and came to a Towne about sixe of the clocke,
eighteene miles therehence, called Briare, where I lay
196
OBSERVATIONS OF BRIARE
the thirtieth day of May being Munday. About a mile
or two before I came to Briare I first saw that noble
River Ligeris, in French the Loire, which is a very The Loire a
goodly Navigable River, and hath his beginning from navigable
a place about the confines of the territorie of the people Rlzrer -
Arverni : this River runneth by Orleance, Nevers, Bloys,
Ambois, Tours, Samur, Nantes, and many other noble
cities and townes : in some places it is above a mile broad,
and hath certaine pretty little Islands full of trees and
other commodities in divers places thereof : as in one
place I saw three little Islands, very neare together,
whereof one had a fine grove of trees in it. Upon this
river came a great multitude of Normanes into France,
out of some part of the Cimbrical Chersonesus, which
is otherwise called Denmarke, or (as others thinke) out
of Norway their originall countrey, in the time of the
Emperour Lotharius, and did much hurt in divers places
of the countrey, till Carolus Calvus, then king of France,
gave them a great summe of money to depart out of his
territories. On both sides of this river I saw in divers
places very fat and fruitfull veines of ground, as goodly
meadowes, very spatious champaigne fieldes, and great
store of woods and groves, exceedingly replenished with
wood.
The windowes in most places of France doe very windows in
much differ from our English windowes ; for in the France.
inside of the roome it hath timber leaves, joyned together
with certaine little iron bolts, which being loosed, and
the leaves opened, there commeth in at the lower part
of the window where there is no glasse at al, the open
aire very pleasantly. The upper part of the window,
which is most commonly shut, is made of glasse or [p. 50.]
lattise.
The French guides otherwise called the Postilians, A diabolical
have one most diabolicall custome in their travelling upon cusforf >-
the wayes. Diabolical it may be well called : for when
soever their horses doe a little anger them, they wil say
in their fury Allons diable, that is, Go thou divell. Also
197
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
if they happen to be angry with a stranger upon the way
upon any occasion, they will say to him le diable t emporte,
that is, The divell take thee. This I know by mine
owne experience.
I rode in Post from Briare about five of the clocke in
the morning the one and thirtieth day of May, being
La Charitie. Tuesday, and came that day to a towne called la Charitie,
thirty miles therehence, about twelve of the clock, where
I dined. Betwixt Briare and la Charitie I saw a pretty
little towne on the left side of the Loire situate on a hil,
where there was a very stately and strong Castle that
belongeth to the King.
I rode from la Charitie about two of the clocke in the
Ntvers. afternoone, and came to the citie of Nevers about sixe
of the clocke that day, being eight miles therehence.
Betwixt la Charitie and Nevers I observed nothing but
this : a little on this side Nevers I saw the greatest
Fair abundance of faire and beautifull Vineyards that I
Vineyards, observed so neare together in all France : yea so exceeding
was the plenty thereof, that I do not remember I saw
halfe so many about any citie or towne whatsoever betwixt
Calais and that.
My observations of the Citie of Nevers called
in Latin Niverna.
T
city of Nevers is seated something higher then
many other cities that I saw betwixt Calais and that :
[p. 51.] It hath the goodly river Loire running by it, over which
there is a faire wooden bridge : it is a Ducall and
Episcopall citie. The Duke was then at the Court when
Nevers a I was at Nevers. I saw his Palace being a little from the
Ducal City. Cathedrall Church, having pretty turrets, and a convenient
court, inclosed with a faire wall : but the Palace it selfe
was but meane, being farre inferiour not onely to most
of our English Noblemens and knights houses, but also
to many of our private Gentlemens buildings in the
countrey. The Cathedral Church which is called Saint
198
OBSERVATIONS OF NEVERS
Sers is pretty, neyther very faire nor very base, having The
faire imagery at the east and west gates thereof. Amongst Cathedral
some other remarkable things that I observed in this Church.
Church, this was one : in one of the Wainscot leaves that
cover the picture of Christ and our Lady (for in most of
their Churches where they have pictures well made, they
keep them so curiously, that they have leaves of fine thin
wainscot to cover them) in one I say of these wainscot
leaves, this excellent Latin poesie is written out of S. An Excellent
Augustin : O anima Christiana, respice vulnera patientis, Latin Poes y-
sanguinem morientis, precium redimentis. Haec quanta
sint cogitate, & in statera cordis vestri appendite, ut totus
vobis figatur in corde, qui pro vobis totus fixus est in
cruce. Nam si passio Christi ad memoriam revocetur,
nihil est tarn durum, quod non aequo animo toleretur.
In this Church there is a most sumptuous Tombe of A Tomb of
the last Duke and Duchesse : the pillars thereof are J<"per.
many, which are made of very rich flesh coloured marble,
interlaced with veynes of white. The Sextin that shewed
me the Church, told me very simply that it was jasper
stone. Also there are many faire and great square peeces
of touch-stone about this monument : and their Epitaph
written in Latin in capitall letters of gold in a piece of
touch-stone in that side of the Tombe, which is in the
Quire neare the high Altar. Besides there is much
Alabaster about this Tombe, and their statues are very [p. 52.]
fairely erected in Alabaster upon the toppe of the
monument. Right opposite unto this there is erected
a faire monument also of the Dukes father and mother
done in Alabaster with their statues very artificially made
at the toppe, and their Epitaphs in Latin : but this
monument is farre inferiour to the other.
This following was written upon the tombe of a
certaine Bishop of Nevers, that was buried in the Quire
of the same Church. First above the rest this is written
in golden letters upon a peece of touch-stone.
Sapientia amara inexpertis.
199
The high
Altar.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Under that this,
Arnaldi Sarbini Nivernensis Episcopi
Stemmata. 1592.
Last this,
Magnus sedis bonos, sedi at prsestat esse honori.
The high altar of the Church is very sumptuous, being
beautified with stately pillars of marble, and great square
peeces of touch stone, very like to those of the last Dukes
Tombe.
The Quire is hanged with a great deale of very faire
tapistry or cloth of arras.
There is a Jesuitical Colledge in Nevers, whose printed
bils in Latin of certain matters touching the victories of
Carolus Quintus and other things I saw hanged up by
the South gate of the Cathedrall Church, and in another
place of the citie.
Roguish I never saw so many roguish Egyptians together in
Egyptians. anv one p} ace { n a ll m y \{f e as m Nevers, where there
was a great multitude of men, women and children of
them, that disguise their faces, as our counterfet western
Egyptians in England. For both their haire and their
faces looked so blacke, as if they were raked out of hel,
and sent into the world by great Beelzebub, to terrific and
astonish mortall men : their men are very Ruffians &
Swashbucklers, having exceeding long blacke haire curled,
[p- 53-] and swords or other weapons by their sides. Their
women also suffer their haire to hang loosely about their
shoulders, whereof some I saw dancing in the streets,
and singing lascivious vaine songs ; whereby they draw
many flocks of the foolish citizens about them.
Wooden shoes. In Nevers I saw many woodden shoes to be solde,
which are worn onely of the peasants of the countrey. I
saw them worn in many other places also : they are usually
sold for two Sowses, which is two pence farthing. Thus
much of Nevers.
200
OBSERVATIONS OF MOULINS
IRode in Post from Nevers the first day of June being
Wednesday, about seven of the clocke in the morning,
and came to a towne called Moulins, being twenty sixe
miles distant from it, about noone. The only thing that
I observed betwixt Nevers and Moulins, was a goodly
faire pitched casse-way a little beyond Nevers, the fairest
indeed that ever I saw, which lasteth about some mile
and halfe, being but newly made as I take it, and of a
very convenient breadth.
At Moulins which is a very faire towne, I observed Moulins.
two things : the Castle which is a very strong and stately
Fort, belonging to the King. And whereas there was a
Fayre there that day that I came into the towne, I saw
more Oxen and Kine there then ever I did before at any
Fayre, each couple both of Oxen and Kine being coupled Store of Oxen.
together with yoakes, and not loose, as our Oxen and Kine
are sold at Fairs and Markets in England. These were so
exceeding thicke from the one end of the Market place,
which is very broad and long, to the other, that I did with
no small difficulty passe through them to mine Inne.
I went from Moulins about three of the clocke in the
afternoone, and came to a place called St. Geran, being St - Geran.
sixteen miles from it, about half an houre after eight of
the clock in the evening : in this space I saw nothing but
one very ruefull and tragicall object : ten men hanging [p. 54.]
in their clothes upon a goodly gallows made of freestone
about a mile beyond Moulins, whose bodies where con
sumed to nothing, onely their bones and the ragged
fitters of their clothes remained.
I saw the Alpes within a few miles after I was passed The
beyond St. Geran : they appeared about forty miles before
I came to them. Those that divide Germany and Italy
are by themselves, and they that divide France and Italy
are by themselves : which Alpes are sundred by the space
of many miles the one from the other.
I rode in post from St. Geran about foure of the clock
in the morning the second day of June being Thursday,
and came that day to dinner to a place called St. Saphorine
2OI
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
St. Saphorine de Lay, being twenty miles beyond it, by two of the
de Lay. clocke : in this space I observed nothing memorable.
I departed from St. Saphorine de Lay about three of
the clocke in the afternoone, and came to an obscure
towne called Tarare being seven miles from it, about
<3
eight of the clock in the evening. I observed these
three things betwixt St. Saphorine de Lay & Tarare :
almost all the flocks of sheepe that I saw there (for there
I saw very many) were coale blacke : great abundance of
pine trees about al the mountains, over the which I passed.
For the whole countrey betwixt St. Saphorine de Lay &
Tarare is so ful of steepe mountaines, that a man can
have no even way, but continually high up-hils and steepe
down-hils til he commeth to Tarare. The third was
many faire woodes upon the tops and sides of those
mountaines.
Tarare. In Tarare I observed one thing that I much admired,
a woman that had no hands but stumpes instead thereof
(whether she had this deformity naturally or accidentally
I know not) did spinne flaxe with a distaffe as nimbly
[p- 55-] and readily, and drew out her thread as artificially with
her stumps, as any woman that ever I saw spinning with
her hands.
I went a friday morning being the third day of June
about sixe of the clocke from Tarare in my bootes, by
reason of a certaine accident, to a place about sixe miles
therehence, where I tooke post horse, and came to Lyons
about one of the clocke in the afternoone. Betwixt the
Lyons. place where I tooke post and Lyons, it rained most
extremely without any ceasing, that I was drooping wet
to my very skinne when I came to my Inne. I passed
three gates before I entred into the city. The second was
a very faire gate, at one side whereof there is a very stately
picture of a Lyon. When I came to the third gate I
could not be suffered to passe into the city, before the
porter having first examined me wherehence I came, and
the occasion of my businesse, there gave me a little
ticket under his hand as a kind of warrant for mine
202
OBSERVATIONS OF LYONS
entertainement in mine Inne. For without that ticket
I should not have beene admitted to lodge within the
walles of the City.
My observations of Lyons.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written this hexastichon upon Scaliger s
this City. rerseson
Lyons.
FUlmineis Rhodanus qua se fugat incitus undis,
Quaque pigro dubitat flumine mitis Arar
Lugdunum jacet, antique novus orbis in orbe,
Lugdunumve vetus orbis in orbe novo.
Quod nolis, alibi quaeras : hie quaere quod optas,
Aut hie, aut nusquam vincere vota potes.
Lyons is a faire city being seated in that part of
France which is called Lyonnois, and very auncient.
For it was founded by a worthy Roman Gentleman* [p. 56.]
Munatius Plancus, a Scholler of Ciceroes, and an excellent
Orator. He beganne to lay the foundation thereof about Foundation
the nineteenth yeare of Augustus his raigne, and three Lyons.
and twenty yeares before Christs incarnation, at what
time he governed Gallia Comata. Also at the same time
he built the goodly city of Rauraca alias Augusta in
Switcerland, which was but a little way distant from the
famous city of Basil, but at this day so ruinated, and
defaced that there remaine only the ruines thereof. In
the city of Basil I saw in the Court of the Praetorium
or Senate house a goodly statue newly erected to the
honour of this Munatius Plancus as a memoriall, for the
founding of that city of Rauraca, with an honourable
Elogium subscribed underneath the same. But the
fairest of the two was this city of Lyons, which is situate
under very high rocks and hils on one side, and hath a
very ample and spacious plaine on the other side. It is
fortified with a strong wall, and hath seven gates, many
faire streets, and goodly buildings, both publique and
* Unto this man Horace wrote an Ode, as it appeareth
Carmi. lib. i. Ode, 7.
203
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Archbishop
Bellicure.
madeof white
[p. 57.]
A lamentable
Fire.
private. Very populous, and is esteemed the principal!
emporium or mart towne of all France next to Paris.
It is the seat of an Archbishop, who is the Primate and
Metropolitan of France. The present Archbishop whose
name is Bellicure sonne to the Chancellor of France, is
but young being not above thirty yeares old. Most of
the buildings are of an exceeding height, sixe or seven
stories high together with the vault under the ground.
For they have vaults or cellars under most of their houses.
\ observed that most of their windowes are made of
white paper j n man y pkces of the dty the whole
window is made of white paper only, in some partly of
white paper as the lower part, and partly of glasse as the
higher part : almost all their houses are built with white
free stone.
The Romanes were wont heretofore to stampe their
coynes of gold and silver in this city, and their tributes
and rents were brought thither from all the places of
France, which yeelded so great a revenue to the Romans,
that only France was accounted the principal proppe of
the Roman Empire. After Lyons was begunne to be
inhabited and planted by the Romans, many of the great
Gentlemen of Rome and generall Captaines of the Roman
armies, being delighted with the opportunity of the place,
came to make their habitation there, and built many
sumptuous and magnificent Pallaces in the city. There
was about the time of Jesus Christ being on the earth,
such a lamentable fire in the city that it utterly consumed
the same, and turned it into ashes ; Which Seneca in an
Epistle to his friend Liberalis, a man of Lyons mentioneth
with these words, Unius noctis incendium totam stravit
urbem, ut una scilicet nox interfuerit inter urbem
maximam & nullam : tanta fuit incendii vis & celeritas.
Afer which time it was very sumptuously repayred
againe. And about some foure hundred and fifty yeares
after it was thus wasted with fire, Attyla King of the
Hunnes, exceedingly ruinated the same, who when he
came out of Pannonia, defaced many goodly cities in
204
OBSERVATIONS OF LYONS
France, Italy, and Germany, as I wil hereafter more
particularly declare in the description of some of the
Italian and German cities.
There are two faire Rivers that runne by this Citie, Two Fair
whereof one is called in French Sone ; in Latine it hath Rivers.
two names, Arar, mentioned by the ancient Ethnicke
Poets, and Sangona, so called from Sanguis, because the
blood of the holy Martyrs of Christ (which were most
cruelly tormented and put to death by some of the
persecuting and Tyrannicall Emperours of Rome in the
Amphitheatre, whose ruines I saw at the top of an high
Hill on one side of the Citie) distilled in so great
abundance from the Hill into a certaine streete, that hath
ever since that time been called Gongilion quasi Goggylion
(as I take it) which commeth from the Greeke word
yoyyvCeiv that signifieth to murmure, that it brake [p. 58.]
foorth afterward with a marveilous violence into the River
Arar, which it embrewed and died with a crimson colour The River
for the space of twentie miles : at the last that bloud was Arar fy ed
congealed together in a little Mountaine or great wtt
Congeries at the Citie Matiscona, till in the ende it
was dissolved to nothing. Upon this occasion I say,
had this river Arar his other name Sangona. The first
originall of this River springeth in the Territorie of
those people of France, that are called Sequani which
are those of Burgundy. There is a faire stonie Bridge
built over this Arar, supported with ten Arches, which
is said to have beene made at the charge of one of the
Bishops of the Citie, called Humbertus. The other
River is called Rhodanus, much famoused by the ancient Rhodanm a
Latine Poets for the swiftnesse thereof : for I observed swift River.
it to be the swiftest River of all those that I saw in
my Travels, onely the Lezere in Savoy excepted, and
it runneth much swifter than the Arar neere unto it,
whereat I did not a little wonder. This River springeth
from the Rheticall Alpes, out of a certain high Mountaine
called Furca, where it taketh a very small beginning,
but being afterward amplified with a great multitude of
205
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
little Rivers that descend from the Alpes, it runneth
through the Country of Valesia, & so passing through
the great Lake Lemanus, it issueth againe out of the
same at Geneva, and thence passeth down to the Citie
Rhodanus o f Lyons. Some derive the word Rhodanus from the
signtfieth to L a ti ne word rodere, which signified! to gnaw, because
gnaw. . . , .11 -11 j 1
m certame places it doth continually gnaw and eate ms
bankes. Suetonius writeth in the life of Julius Caesar,
that Caesar after his returne to Rome, from the warres
of Africa, having foure Triumphs granted him, procured
the portraiture of this River Rhodanus to be curiously
wrought in Gold, and was publikly presented in his first
triumph, which was that of France, in regard it was the
[p- 59-] principall River of that Country, for the conquering
whereof he spent almost ten yeares. Over this River
Ten Water also there is a very faire Bridge, and ten pretie water
Mills. Milles I sawe on the water neere to the Bridge, seven
on one side, and three on the other. A little beyond
the townes end, the River Arar and the Rhodanus doe
make a confluent, where the Arar after it hath mingled
it selfe with the Rhodanus leeseth his name. I saw a
A banicade Barracado of boats chained together over the Arar, to
of boats. t h e enc [ t^t no Boates that are within the Citie may goe
foorth, nor any without come in, without the licence of
the Magistrates.
There is in the South side of the Towne, neere the
High stairs. Rockie-hils, an exceeding high paire of Staires, which
containeth one hundred and foureteene stonie greeses ;
above these staires there is a long stony walke at the
least halfe a mile high, and very steepe, which leadeth
to the top of the Hill where there are many old Monu
ments, whereof one is the Temple of Venus built on
the very top of the hill, but now it is converted to a
Colledge of Canon Monkes. Also there are to be seene
the ruines of that huge amphitheatre, wherein those
constant servants of Jesus Christ willingly suffered
many intolerable and bitter tortures for his sake : I call
it a huge amphitheatre, because it is reported it contained
206
OBSERVATIONS OF LYONS
at least fiftie thousand persons. As for those Martyrs Martyrs
which suffered there, frequent mention of them doeth ntferings.
occurre in most of the ancient Ecclesiastical Historians,
especially Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea, who writeth a
no lesse Tragicall then copious Historic of the cruell
sufferings of Attalus, Sanctus, Maturus, and the
vertuous woman Blandina, all which were in this
place most cruelly broyled in iron Chaires for the faith
of their Redeemer in the fourth persecution of the
Primitive Church, under the Emperour Antoninus
Verus. He that will reade the Tragical and most
pitifull Historie of their Martyrdome, which I have
often perused not without effusion of teares, let him
reade the Epistle of the brethren of Lyons and Vienna, [p. 60.]
to the brethren of Asia and Phrygia, in the fifth Booke
and second Epistle of Eusebius his Ecclesiastical
Historie. Amongst many other things, that have
famoused this Citie, the death of Pontius Pilate the Pontius Pilate
chiefe Prefect or President of the Romanes in Judea, slew himself at
(under whom our blessed Saviour suffered death) was ^ ons
not the least ; not that I affirm the Citie was any thing
the better for that he died in the same, but I saw it was
more famoused, that is, the more spoken of over all
places of Europe : For whereas Pilate shortly after
Christ s ascension, was by the commandment of Tiberius
Caesar the Emperour, summoned to come to Rome, so
great matters were there objected against him, that he
was deprived of his Authority, and afterward banished
to this Citie of Lyons, in which at last he slew himselfe,
as good Historiographers doe Record. Here also
Magnentius, who had beene proclaimed Emperour
against Constantius the Emperor, and the yongest
of the three Sonnes of Constantine the Great, here I
say he slew himselfe as desperately as Pilate before
named, shortly after he had beene conquered in a great
Battell near the Citie of Mursia in Spaine, by the Armies
of the said Constantius.
Here was that good Emperour Gratian slaine by the
207
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Tyrant Maximus, about the twentie nineth yeare of his
age, as he was flying into Italy to his brother Valentinian,
for aide against the rebellious legions of Britannie.
Neere unto this Citie was Clodius Albinus overthrowne
A famous in a very memorable and famous Battell by the Emperour
battle. Septimius Severus, with whom he contended about the
Empire of Rome ; where Severus after hee had taken
him in fight, strooke off his head as some write, others
affirme that he rode over his dead carkasse with a swift
horse, and afterward threwe his body into the River
Rhodanus.
There are many Churches in this city, whereof these
[p. 6 1.] are the names. Saint Johns is the Cathedrall, in which
Nine and I was : S. Paules wherein I was also : The Capucins :
thirty T ne Minims : The Observantines : The Carthusians : S.
Churches. Georges: S. Justus: S. Irenaeus : S. Justine Martyr:
The Augustinians : The Celestines : Sancti Spiritus :
Mary Magdalens : St. Katharines : The Carmelites : The
Jesuites : The Franciscans : S. Clares : S. Peters : S.
Sorlins : S. Claudius : The desert Temple where Nunnes
dwell : S. Vincentius : S. Antonies : The Church of the
Penitentiary Friers, of the order of S. Lewes the holy
King of Fraunce : S. Marcellus : The Benedictines : S.
^Eneas where there was heretofore a Colledge of
Athenians : S. James the great, a Church that is called
forum Veneris : S. Nicesins : S. Cosmas and Damianus :
S. Stephens : S. Claraes : S. Roche : S. Laurence : A
Church called Hospitium Dei, which is an Hospitall of
poore folkes : A Church of the Comfortines. The totall
number is nine and thirty.
The two Churches of Irenasus and Justinus Martyr,
were (as some say) built by themselves. But I doe
not beleeve that to be true, because the persecution of
the Church was so violent in their time under the Pagan
Emperours of Rome, that I thinke there were no
Churches then built for the exercise of Christian religion.
These were great companions and consorts together about
little more then a hundred yeares after Christ : Whereof
208
OBSERVATIONS OF LYONS
one, namely Irenseus, was the first Bishop of Lyons, he Irenaeus First
was the Scholler of Poly carpus, Bishop of Smyrna in L "*f
Asia, who was one of the three Schollers of S. John
the Evangelist. The same Irenseus hath written many
books of the heresies before, and in his time, which
bookes are yet extant. The other was converted to
Christianity from Ethnicisme, and hath written many
excellent Treatises in Greeke, much esteemed in this
age ; as an Apology for the Christians to the Emperour
Adrian, and Antoninus Pius : against Triphone the Jew,
&c. at last they both were martyred. The ruines of the [p- 62.]
auncient Church of S. Irenaeus I saw my selfe on one
side of the river Arar. I was at the Colledge of the
Jesuites, wherein are to be observed many goodly things :
The severall Schooles wherein the seven liberall sciences
are professed, and lectures thereof publiquely read. In
their Grammar schoole I saw a great multitude of yong A fair
Gentlemen and other Schollers of meaner fortunes at Grammar
their exercises. It is a very faire Schoole adorned with s ^ 00 ^
many things that doe much beautifie it, especially the
curious pictures, as one holding a sword in his hand,
whereunto there is added this Greeke Motto eV ^ovaSi
Tpias. Another that hath his heroycall embleme,
which is an Homericall Hemistichium et? Kolpavois eVrto.
The other part of the verse is owe ayadov iroXvicopavit].
Their Cloyster is very faire and newly garnished with
the pictures of sixe of the Apostles. Neare to the which,
they have a faire little garden. One of the Jesuits that
used me very kindly, shewed me their library, which is an The library of
exceeding sumptuous thing, and passing wel furnished the
with books. He shewed me the King of Spaines Bible,
which was bestowed on them by the French King Henry
the fourth. Of all faculties they have great store of
bookes in that library, but especially of Divinity. Also
there they have the pictures of their Benefactors, whereof
most were Cardinals, as Cardinall Borromeus Archbishop
of Milan ; Cardinall Turnonensis, &c. Besides, they
have the workes of all the learned men of their order
c. c. 209 o
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Edmund
Campion.
[P- 63-]
Monks.
that have written, and the Pictures of all those of that
order that have suffered death for preaching their doctrine.
Amongst the rest the picture of Edmund Campion, with
an Elogium subscribed in golden letters, signifying why,
how, and where he dyed. Lastly, he brought me into
their Church, where he shewed me a very faire Altar
beautified with most glorious pillers that were richly gilt,
those pillers he told me were to remaine there but a
little while, and to be taken away againe. Of the Society
of them there are threescore and no more. But of those
punies, those tyrones that are brought up under those
threescore, there are no lesse then a thousand and five
hundred, who have certaine other Schooles in the towne
farre remote from this Colledge, which serveth for
another Seminary to instruct their Novices.
On Sunday being the fift day of June, I was at even-
Benedutlne song at the Monastery of the Benedictine Monks, where
I saw tenne of them at prayer in the Quire of their
Church : they were attyred in blacke gownes with fine
thin vayles of blacke Say over them : one of them was
as proper a man as any I saw in all France. In a Chappel
which is but a little from their Quire there is a very
ancient and rich table, wherein the picture of Christ and
the Virgin Mary is most exquisitely drawne, and gilt
over : but it hath lost much of his pristin beauty : it is
reported that it hath beene the fairest picture of all
France. Neare to this Monastery there is a very pleasant
A pleasant and delectable garden of the Arch-bishop of Lyons, the
fairest that I saw in all France, saving that of the
Tuilleries and Fountaine Beleau : in it are sundry fine
walkes, and great abundance of pleasant fruits of divers
sorts, and a great many pretty plots, both for pleasure
and profite. Also there is a fine nursery of young trees,
and the sweetest grove for contemplation that ever I
saw, being round about beset with divers delicate trees,
that at the Spring time made a very faire shew.
Many of the Kings Mules which are laden with
merchandise come to Lyons, where they lay down their
Garden.
2IO
OBSERVATIONS OF LYONS
burdens, who have little things made of Osier like The King s
Baskets hanging under their mouths, wherein there is Mules.
put hay for them to eate as they travell : over their
forehead and eyes they have three peeces of plate, made
eyther of brasse or latten, wherein the Kings armes are
made : also they have pretty peeces of pretty coloured
cloth, commonly redde hanging from the middle of their [p- 6 4~]
forehead downe to their noses, fringed with long faire
fringe, and many tassels bobbing about it.
I spake with a certaine Pilgrime upon the bridge over A Simple
the Arar, who told me that he had been at Compostella PUffim-
in Spaine, and was now going to Rome, but he must
needs take Avignion in his way, a French towne which
hath these many years belonged to the Pope. I had a
long discourse with him in latin, who told me he was a
Roman borne. I found him but a simple fellow, yet
he had a little beggarly and course latin, so much as a
Priscianist may have.
I lay at the signe of the three Kings, which is the The Inn of the
fayrest Inne in the whole citie, and most frequented of Three Ktn &-
al the Innes in the towne, and that by great persons.
For the Earle of Essex lay there with all his traine
before I came thither : he came thither the Saturday
and went away the Thursday following, being the day
immediately before I came in. At that time that I was
there, a great Nobleman of France one Monsieur de
Breues (who had laien Lidger Ambassadour many years
in Constantinople) lay there with a great troupe of gallant
Gentlemen, who was then taking his journey to Rome
to lie there Lidger. Amongst the rest of his company
there were two Turkes that he brought with him out of
Turkey, whereof one was a blacke Moore, who was his A black moor
jester ; a mad conceited fellow, and very merry. He J estcr -
wore no hat at all eyther in his journey (for he overtooke
us upon the way riding without a hat) or when he rested
in any towne, because his naturall haire which was
exceeding thicke and curled, was so prettily elevated in
heigth that it served him alwaies instead of a hat : the
211
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A scholarly other Turk was a notable companion and a great scholler
Turk. j n his kinde ; for he spake sixe or seven languages besides
the Latin, which he spake very well : he was borne in
Constantinople. I had a long discourse with him in
[P- 5-] Latin of many things, and amongst other questions I
asked him whether he were ever baptized, he tolde me,
no, and said he never would be. After that wee fell
into speeches of Christ, whom he acknowledged for a
great Prophet, but not for the Sonne of God, affirming
that neither he nor any of his countrey men would
worship him, but the onely true God, creator of heaven
and earth : and called us Christians Idolaters, because we
worshipped images ; a most memorable speech if it be
properly applied to those kind of Christians, which
deserve that imputation of Idolatry. At last I fell into
some vehement argumentations with him in defence of
Christ, whereupon being unwilling to answer me, he
suddenly flung out of my company. He told me that
The Great the great Turke, whose name is Sultan Achomet, is not
Turk. above two and twenty years old, and that continually
both in peace and warre he doth keepe two hundred
thousand souldiers in pay, for the defence of those
countries in which they are resident : a matter certainly
of incredible charge to the great Turke : in which I per
ceive that he farre exceedeth the auncient Romane
Emperours, that had both a larger Empire and better
meanes to defray the charge then himselfe. For they
kept in al their Provinces of Asia, Europe and Africa
The Army of b u j- fi ve an( j twenty legions, each whereof contained sixe
AnaentRome. thousand anc j a hundred foot-men (according to the
authority of Vegetius) and seven hundred twenty sixe
horse-men, besides twelve Praetorian and LTrban cohorts
in the citie of Rome, for the guard of the Emperours
Palace : whereof the first which was the principall of all,
contained one thousand, one hundred and five foot-men,
and one hundred thirty and two horse-men : the others
equally five hundred and fiftie foot-men and sixtie six
hors-men : which number I finde to fall short by more
212
OBSERVATIONS OF LYONS
then thirty thousand of those that the Turke keepeth
this day in his garisons. Many other memorable things
besides these this learned Turke told me, which I will [p- 66.]
not now commit to writing.
At mine Inne there lay the Saturday night, being the
fourth of June, a worthy young nobleman of France of
two and twenty years olde, who was brother to the Duke The brother to
of Guise and Knight of Malta. He had passing fine the Duke of
i j rv u j u- Gunc -
musicke at supper, and alter supper he and his companions
being gallant lustie Gentlemen, danced chorantoes and
lavoltoes in the court. He went therehence the Sunday
after dinner, being the fifth day of June.
At the South side of the higher court of mine Inne,
which is hard by the hall (for there are two or three
courts in that Inne) there is written this pretty French
poesie : On ne loge ceans a credit : car il est mort, les
mauvais paieurs I ont tue. The English is this : Here
is no lodging upon credit : for he is dead, ill payers have
killed him. Also on the South side of the wal of
another court, there was a very petty and merry story A Merry
painted, which was this : A certain Pedler having a Story.
budget full of small wares, fell asleep as he was travelling
on the way, to whom there came a great multitude of
Apes, and robbed him of all his wares while he was
asleepe : some of those Apes were painted with pouches
or budgets at their backs, which they stole out of the
pedlers fardle, climing up to trees, some with spectacles
on their noses, some with beades about their neckes, some
with touch-boxes and ink-hornes in their hands, some
with crosses and censour boxes, some with cardes in their
hands ; al which things they stole out of the budget :
and amongst the rest one putting down the Pedlers
breeches, and kissing his naked, &c. This pretty conceit
seemeth to import some merry matter, but truely I know
not the morall of it.
I saw a fellow whipped openly in the streets of Lyons Qp en
that day that I departed therehence, being munday the Whippings.
sixth day of June, who was so stout a fellow, that though
213
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
he received many a bitter lash, he did not a jot relent at
it.
[p. 67.] At Lyons our billes of health began : without the
which we could not be received into any of those cities
that lay in our way towards Italy. For the Italians are
so curious and scrupulous in many of their cities, especially
those that I passed through in Lombardy, that they will
admit no stranger within the wals of their citie, except
Bills of he bringeth a bill of health from the last citie he came
Health. from, to testifie that he was free from all manner of
contagious sickenesse when he came from the last citie.
But the Venetians are extraordinarily precise herein,
insomuch that a man cannot be received into Venice
without a bill of health, if he would give a thousand
duckets. But the like strictnesse I did not observe in
those cities of Lombardy, through the which I passed in
my returne from Venice homeward. For they received
me into Vicenza, Verona, Brixia, Bergomo, &c. without
any such bill.
He that will be throughly acquainted with the principall
antiquities and memorables of this famous citie, let him
Symphorianus reade a Latin Tract of one Symphorianus Campegius a
Campeglushis French man and a learned Knight borne in this citie,
Latin Tract. w j lo j^^ ^Q^ copiously and eloquently discoursed
thereof. For it was my hap to see his booke in a learned
Gentlemans hands in this citie, who very kindly com
municated the same unto me for a little space : wherof
I made so little use, or rather none at all, that I have
often since much repented for it. Thus much of Lyons.
I
Remayned in Lyons two whole dayes, and rode ther-
hence about two of the clocke in the afternoone on
Munday being the sixth day of June, and came about
halfe an houre after eight of the clocke in the evening
Vorplllere. to a Parish called Vorpillere, which is tenne miles beyond
[p. 68.] Lyons. In this space I observed nothing but abundance
of walnut-trees and chesnut-trees, and sundry heards of
blacke swine, and flocks of blacke sheepe.
214
OBSERVATIONS OF SAVOY
I rode from Vorpillere the seventh day of June, being
Tuesday, about halfe an houre after sixe of the clocke
in the morning, and came to a parish about tenne miles
therehence, called la Tour du Pin, about eleven of the La Tour du
clocke : in this space I saw nothing memorable. Pin -
I went from la Tour du Pin about two of the clocke
in the afternoon, and came to a place called Pont de
Beauvoisin about sixe of the clocke. Betwixt these
places there is sixe miles distance : at this Pont de Pont de
Beauvoisin France and Savoy doe meet, the bridge Beauvoisin.
parting them both. When I was on this side the bridge
I was in France, when beyond, in Savoy.
The end of my observations on France.
My observations of Savoy.
Went from Pont de Beauvoisin about
halfe an houre after sixe of the clocke
in the morning, the eight day of June
being Wednesday, and came to the foote
of the Mountaine Aiguebelette which is Alguebelette
the first Alpe, about ten of the clocke the first Alp.
the morning. A little on this side
in
morning.
the Mountaine there is a poore village called Aiguebelle,
where we stayed a little to refresh our selves before we
ascended the Mountaine. I observed an exceeding great
standing poole a little on this side the Mountaine on the
left hand thereof.
The things that I observed betwixt Pont de Beauvoisin,
and the foote of the Mountaine, were these. I saw divers
red snailes of an extraordinary length and greatnesse, such Red Snails.
as I never saw before. Barly almost ripe to be cut, whereas
in England they seldome cut the rathest before the begin
ning of August, which is almost two moneths after. Like- [p. 69.]
wise I saw such wonderful abundance of chestnutte trees,
that I marvailed what they did with the fruit thereof : it
was told me that they fedde their swine therewith.
I ascended the Mountaine Aiguebelette about ten of
the clocke in the morning a foote, and came to the foote
2I 5
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Travellers
Carried in
Chairs.
of the other side of it towards Chambery, about one of
the clocke. Betwixt which places I take it to be about
some two miles, that is a mile and halfe to the toppe of
the Mountaine, and from the toppe to the foote of the
descent halfe a mile. I went up a foote, and delivered
my horse to another to ride for me, because I thought it
was more dangerous to ride then to goe a foote, though
indeede all my other companions did ride : but then this
accident hapned to me. Certaine poore fellowes which
get their living especially by carrying men in chairs from
the toppe of the hill to the foot thereof towards Cham
bery, made a bargaine with some of my company, to
carry them down in chaires, when they came to the toppe
of the Mountaine, so that I kept them company towards
the toppe. But they being desirous to get some money
of me, lead me such an extreme pace towards the toppe,
that how much soever I laboured to keepe them company,
I could not possibly performe it : The reason why they
lead such a pace, was, because they hoped that I would
give them some consideration to be carryed in a chaire
to the toppe, rather then I would leese their company,
and so consequently my way also, which is almost impos
sible for a stranger to finde alone by himselfe, by reason
of the innumerable turnings and windings thereof, being
on every side beset with infinite abundance of trees. So
that at last finding that faintnesse in my selfe that I was
not able to follow them any longer, though I would even
breake my hart with striving, I compounded with them
[p. 70.] for a cardakew, which is eighteene pence English, to be
Slender hire, carryed to the toppe of the Mountaine, which was at the
least half a mile from the place where I mounted on the
chaire. This was the manner of their carrying of me :
They did put two slender poles through certaine woodden
rings, which were at the foure corners of the chaire, and
so carried me on their shoulders sitting in the chaire,
one before, and another behinde : but such was the
miserable paines that the poore slaves willingly under-
tooke : for the gaine of that cardakew, that I would not
216
OBSERVATIONS OF SAVOY
have done the like for five hundred. The wayes were
exceeding difficult in regard of the steepnesse and hard- Difficult
nesse thereof, for they were al rocky, petricosas & -^
salebrosae, and so uneven that a man could hardly find
any sure footing on them. When I had tandem
aliquando gotten up to the toppe, I said to my selfe
with ^Eneas in Virgil :
Forsan & haec olim meminisse juvabit.
then might I justly and truly say, that which I could
never before, that I was above some of the clowdes.
For though that mountain be not by the sixth part so high
as some others of them : yet certainely it was a great
way above some of the clowdes. For I saw many of them
very plainly on the sides of the Mountaine beneath me.
I mounted on my horse againe about one of the clock
at the foote of the Mountaine, on the other side towards
*
Chambery, so that I was about three houre.s going
betwixt the two feete on both sides, being but two miles
distant. From the place where I mounted my horse I
had two miles to Chambery, and came thither about two
of the clocke in the afternoone.
Chambery which is called in Latin Camberinum, is Chambery.
the capitall City of Savoy, wherein they keep their
Parliament. It is seated in a plaine, and is but little,
yet walled, and having certain convenient gates. Many
of their houses are built with faire free stone. Therein
is a strong Castle which seemeth to be of great antiquity.
Here was wont to be kept a very auncient and religious
relique, the shroud wherein our Saviours blessed body [p. 71.]
was wrapped (as they report) when it was put into the
Sepulchre ; but within these few years it was removed
to Turin in Piemont, where upon speciall days it is
shewed with great ceremonies. One thing I observed
in this towne that I never saw before, much of their tile Tiles of Wood.
wherewith they cover their Churches and houses is made
of woodde. Here is a Jesuitical Colledge as in Lyons :
Their windows are made of paper in many places of the
217
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
City as in Lyons. Here came Nunnes to our chamber
to begge money of us as in Lyons.
People called The people of this Country which are now called
Sabaudi. Sabaudi, were heretofore called Allobroges, from a certain
King whose name was Allobrox. The Metropolitan
City that they inhabited was Vienna, which is situate by
the River Rhodanus. The word Sabaudia is derived
either from Savona alias Sabatia (as that singular learned
man Caspar Peucerus 1 writeth) a town of Liguria in
Italic, the country of Pope Julius the second, which
lyeth betwixt Genua and Nicena ; or from the Sabatii,
certain auncient people that inhabited the Alpes. These
Sabaudi do now inhabite that country, which in times
past belonged to sundry people, as the Voconii, Veragri,
Caturiges, Centrones, and Lepontii. Savoy was here
tofore but an Earledome (as 2 Munster affirmeth) the
Earle thereof being one of the foure of the Roman
Empire. But at the time of the Councell of Constance,
which was celebrated Anno 1415, the Emperour Sigis-
Savoy a mundus converted it to a Dukedome, and made Amadeus
Dukedom. (who was afterwards at the Councell of Basil elected
Pope by the name of Fcelix the fifth) the first Duke
thereof, who was the sonne of Aymon the last Earle.
There was another Duke also of that name of the
Amadei, which was the Nephew of this first Amadeus,
of whom 3 Munster writeth a most memorable history,
that being once demanded of certaine Orators that came
[p. 72.] unto him, whether he had any hounds to hunt withal,
he desired them to come to him the next day, and when
they came he shewed them out of his gallery a great
Multitude of multitude of beggars in one side of his house sitting
Beggars. together at meat, & said loe, these are my hounds that
I feede every day, with whom I hope to hunt for the
glory and joys of heaven.
I rod from Chambery about sixe of the clocke in the
morning, the ninth day of June being Thursday, and
1 Chronicorum Carionis, libro 5. fol. 843.
2 Lib. 2. Cosmographias. 3 Lib. 2. Cosmographiae.
218
OBSERVATIONS OF SAVOY
dined at a place called Aiguebelle whither I came by
noone being ten miles from Chambery. Betwixt these
two places I observed many notable things : About six
miles beyond Chambery I passed by a marvailous strong A marvellous
and impregnable Castle at a towne called Montmelian. stron s
It is built wholly upon a rocke, and is of a very great
circuit about, having store of Ordinance planted about
every wall thereof. Surely the situation of it is so
strong by reason of the rocke, that I doe not remember
I ever saw the like. There we could not passe without
paying some little summe of money, which all strangers
doe in that place.
In all the way betwixt Chambery and Aiguebelle, I
saw infinite abundance of vineyardes planted at the foot Infinite Store
of the Alpes, in both sides of the way, so great store
there was that I doe not remember I saw halfe the plenty
in any part of all France in so short a space, no where it
was most plentifull as about Nevers. For the abundance
here was so great that for the space of ten whole miles
together, a man could not perceive any vacant or wast
place under the Alpes, but all beset with vines : in so
much that I thinke the number of these vineyardes on
both sides of the Alpes, was not so little as foure
thousand. I admired one thing very much in those
vineyards, that they should be planted in such wonderfull
steepe places underneath the hils, where a man would
thinke it were almost impossible for a labourer to worke,
such is the praecipitium of the hill towards the descent.
Also I observed a great multitude of wine houses in [p. 73.]
these vineyardes, so that many of them had their severall
and proper wine houses belonging to it. Which wine
houses doe serve for pressing of their grapes, and the
making of their wine, having all things necessary therein
for that purpose, as their wine presses which are called in
Latin torcularia, &c.
In many places also I saw goodly corne fields, especially Goodly com
of Rie, whereof many thousand plottes I observed before fields.
I went forth of the Alpes, growing upon as steepe places
219
CORYATS CRUDITIES
as the Vineyards did : whereat I much wondred at the
first, because I could not a long time conceive how it was
possible that they should bring their Ploughs so high to
turne the ground. At last after some serious considera
tion of the matter, I imagined that they did set their
Corn set with corne with their hands, according as we have done in
the hand. some few places of England within these ten yeares, as
in sundry places of Middlesex, of the benefite and com
modity wherof there was a booke divulged in Print not
many years since. The reason which induced me this
consideration, was, because I saw an innumerable company
of little plots of corne, not much bigger then little beds
(as we call them in England) in our English Gardens, in
Latin Arcolae. Which little plots I thought they could
not otherwise sow, but by putting in the corne by peece-
meale into the earth with their fingers, especially being
of such heigth under the very tops of the mountaines,
that I should be unwilling to go thither for an hundred
crownes, much lesse to carry an Oxe or an Horse with
me to plough the ground.
fine In many places of Savoy I saw many fine and pleasant
Meadows. meadowes, especially in some places betwixt Chambery
and Aiguebelle on the left hand under the Alpes, which
is a thing very rare to be seene in divers places of this
Countrey.
The worst wayes that ever I travelled in all my life in
LP- 74] the Sommer were those betwixt Chamberie and Aigue-
Bad Ways. belle, which were as bad as the worst I ever rode in
England in the midst of Winter : insomuch that the
wayes of Savoy may be proverbially spoken of as the
Owles of Athens, the peares of Calabria, and the Quailes
of Delos.
I saw many chestnut-trees and walnut-trees in Savoy,
and pretty store of hempe.
I commended Savoy a pretty while for the best place
that ever I saw in my life, for abundance of pleasant
springs, descending from the mountaines, till at the last
I considered the cause of those springs. For they are
220
OBSERVATIONS OF SAVOY
not fresh springs, as I conjectured at the first, but onely
little torrents of snow water, which distilleth from the Snow Water.
toppe of those mountaines, when the snow by the heate
of the sunne is dissolved into water. Of those torrents
I thinke I saw at the least a thousand betwixt the foote
of the ascent of the mountaine Aiguebelette and Nova-
laise in Piemont, at the descent of the mountaine Senis ;
which places are sixty two miles asunder.
The swiftest and violentest lake that ever I saw, is A Violent
that which runneth through Savoy, called Lezere, which Lake.
is much swifter then the Rhodanus at Lyons, that by
the Poets is called Rapidissimus amnis. For this is so
extreme swift, that no fish can possibly live in it, by
reason that it will be carried away by the most violent
fource of the torrent, and dashed against huge stones
which are in most places of the lake. Yea there are
many thousand stones in that lake much bigger then
the stones of Stoneage by the towne of Amesbury in Huge Stones.
Wilt-shire, or the exceeding great stone upon Hamdon
hill in Somerset-shire, so famous for the quarre, which
is within a mile of the Parish of Odcombe my dear
natalitiall place. These stones fell into this River, being
broken from the high Rockes of the Alpes, which are on
both sides of it. The cause of the extraordinary swiftness [p. 75.]
of this lake, is, the continuall fluxe of the snow water
descending from those mountaines, which doth augment
and multiplie the lake in a thousand places. There is
another thing also to be observed in this lake, the horrible Horrible
and hideous noyse thereof. For I thinke it keepeth
almost as terrible a noyse as the river Cocytus in hell,
which the Poets doe extoll for the murmuring thereof,
as having his name Cocytus from the olde Greeke word
KftMnW, which signifieth to keepe a noyse.
I travelled many miles in Savoy before I could see any
snow upon the mountaines, but when I came something
near Aigubelle I saw great abundance almost upon every
mountaine.
The Alpes after I had once descended from the
221
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
mountaine Aiguebelette, towards Chambery inclosed me
on every side like two walles till I was past mount Senis,
even for the space of sixty miles.
I saw many flockes of Goats in Savoy, which they
penne at night in certaine low roomes under their
dwelling houses.
Abundance of On every Alpe I saw wonderfull abundance of pine
Trees. trees, especially about the toppe, and many of them of
a very great heigth ; and betwixt the toppe and the
foote there are in many of those mountains wilde Olive
trees, Chesnut-trees, Walnut-trees, Beeches, Hasel trees,
&c. The whole side of many a hill being replenished
with all these sorts of trees.
Dangerous It seemeth very dangerous in divers places to travel
Travelling. unc j er the rocky mountains, because many of them are
cloven and do seeme at the very instant that a man is
under them minari ruinam ; and by so much the more
fearefull a man may be, by how much the more he may
see great multitudes of those stones fallen downe in
[p. 76.] divers places by the river, and the side of the way from
the mountains themselves, & many of them foure or
five times greater then the great stone of Hamdon hill
before mentioned.
The feete of the Alpes that are opposite to each other
are distant one from another (the violent lake Lezere,
whereof I have already spoken, running in the midst
betweene them) in some places halfe a mile, or something
more, but scarce a whole mile : and in some places they
are so neare together, that they are but little more then
a Butte-length asunder.
Such is the heigth of many of these mountaines, that
I thinke I saw at the least two hundred of them that
were farre above some of the cloudes.
Savoy very The countrey of Savoy is very cold, and much subject
Cold - to raine, by reason of those cloudes, that are continually
hovering about the Alpes, which being the receptacles of
raine do there more distill their moisture, then in other
countries.
222
OBSERVATIONS OF SAVOY
I observed an admirable abundance of Butter-flies in Great Swarms
many places of Savoy, by the hundreth part more then rf Butterflies.
ever I saw in any countrey before, whereof many great
swarmes, which were (according to my estimation and
conjecture) at the least two thousand, lay dead upon the
high waies as we travelled.
When I came to Aigubelle I saw the effect of the
common drinking of snow water in Savoy. For there
I saw many men and women have exceeding great
bunches or swellings in their throates, such as we call Strange
in latin strumas, as bigge as the fistes of a man, through Swe " ln S s -
the drinking of snow water, yea some of their bunches
are almost as great as an ordinary foote-ball with us in
England. These swellings are much to be scene amongst
these Savoyards, neyther are all the Pedemontanes free
from them.
I rode from Aigubelle about two of the clocke in the
afternoone, and came to a place called la Chambre, which La Chambre.
is eight miles beyond it, about nine of the clocke in the
evening : this was the ninth day of June being Thursday.
Betwixt Aigubelle and la Chambre, I observed no extra
ordinary matter, but such as before in Savoy. [p. 77.]
I departed from la Chambre about sixe of the clocke
in the morning, the tenth of June being Friday, and
came to a parish called S Andre, which was fourteene S. Andre.
miles from it, about noone. I remember a wondrous
high mountaine, about a mile beyond la Chambre, at
the top whereof there is an exceeding high rocke : this
was on the left hand of my way.
Also another about two miles beyond that which is
covered with snow. This is of a most excessive and
stupendious heigth.
At a towne called St. Jean de Morienne, which is St. Jean de
about six miles beyond la Chambre, I saw a goodly
schoole and a great multitude of schollers in it. The
Parish Church is a pretty thing, having a faire steeple.
I saw a very auncient and strong Castle, but it was
very little about a few miles beyond la Chambre, built
223
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
on the toppe of a rocke, on the left hand of the way :
which perhaps was built in the time of the Roman
Monarchy, as the like were in Rhetia, of which I shal
hereafter make relation.
I rode from S. Andre about halfe an houre after three
of the clocke in the afternoone, and came to a place
Lanskbourg. fourteene miles therehence, called Lasnebourg, about nine
of the clocke in the evening.
Exceeding is the abundance of woodden crosses in
Savoy, and a marvailous multitude of little Chappels,
with the picture of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and
many other religious persons, wherein I did oftentimes
see some at their devotion.
Bridges made I observed a great multitude of poore woodden-bridges
of beech trees, over al Savoy, which were made only of beech trees, that
were cut down from the sides of the Alpes. Some few
stony bridges I saw also pretily vaulted with an arch or
two. These bridges are the necessariest things of all
Savoy. For without them they that are on one side of
the river, cannot possibly get over to the other side, by
reason that the violence of the lake is so great, that it
will carry away both man and beast that commeth within
it.
I noted one thing about sixe or seven miles before I
came to Lasnebourg that is not to be omitted. The
waies on the sides of the mountaines whereon I rode
High Ways, were so exceeding high, that if my horse had happened
to stumble, he had fallen downe with me foure or five
times as deepe in some places as Paules tower in London
is high. Therefore I very providently preventing the
worst dismounted from my horse, and lead him in my
hand for the space of a mile and halfe at the least, though
my company too adventurously rod on, fearing nothing.
In Lasnebourg which was the last towne of Savoy that
I lodged in, situate under the foote of that exceeding
high mountaine Senis, I observed these three things.
First the shortnesse of the womens wastes not naturally
but artificially. For all women both of that towne and
224
. 78.]
OBSERVATIONS OF SAVOY
all other places besides betwixt that and Novalaise a Quaint attire.
towne of Piemont, at the descent of the mountaine Senys
on the other side, some twelve miles off, did gird them
selves so high that the distance betwixt their shoulders
and their girdle seemed to be but a little handfull.
Secondly, the heigth of their beds : for they were so high High beds.
that a man could hardly get into his bedde without some
kinde of climing, so that a man needed a ladder to get
up as we say here in England. Thirdly, the strangenesse
and quaintnesse of the womens head attire. For they
wrappe and fold together after a very unseemly fashion,
almost as much linnen upon their heads as the Turkes
doe in those linnen caps they weare, which are called
Turbents.
I went from Lasnebourg upon the eleventh day of
June being Saturday, about seven of the clocke in the
morning, and ascended the mountain Senys, and came Mount Cenis.
about one of the clocke in the afternoone to a towne in
Piemont called Novalaise at the foote of the descent of
the mount Senys, which is twelve miles from Lasnebourg : [p. 79.]
there Savoy and Piemont meete. In all that distance
betwixt Calais and this town of Novalaise we accounted
all our way by leagues, whereof some are two miles, and
some two miles and halfe. But from Novalaise to Venice
beganne our computation of miles, which is generally
used throughout all Italy.
All this tract of the Alpes about Mount Senys was
heretofore called Alpes Coctiae, from a certaine King
Coctius, that vanquished the auncient Gaules, and was
afterwards received into friendship of Augustus Caesar.
I observed an exceeding high mountaine betwixt
Lasnebourg and Novalaise, much higher then any that
I saw before called Roch Melow : it is said to be the Rock Melon
highest mountaine of all the Alpes, saving one of those fourteen miles
that part Italy and Germany. Some told me it was
fourteene miles high : it is covered with a very Micro-
cosme of clowdes. Of this mountaine there is no more
then a little peece of the toppe to be scene, which seemeth
c. c. 225 p
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
a farre off to be three or foure little turrets or steeples in
A pretty the aire. I have heard a prety history concerning this
history. moun t ame w hich was this. A certain fellow that had
beene a notorious robber and a very enormous liver,
being touched with some remorse of conscience for his
licentious and ungodly life, got him two religious pictures,
one of Christ, and another of the Virgin Mary, which
he carryed a long time about with him, vowing to spend
the remainder of his life in fasting and prayer, for expia
tion of his offences to God, upon the highest mountaine
of all the Alpes. Whereupon he went up to a certaine
mountaine that in his opinion was the highest of all the
Alpine hils, carrying those two pictures with him, and
resolving there to end his life. After he had spent some
little time there, two pictures more of Christ and our
Lady appeared to him, whereby he gathered (but by what
[p. 80.] reason induced I know not) that he had not chosen that
mountaine which was the highest of all ; so that he
wandred a great while about til he found a higher which
was this, unto the toppe whereof he went with his pictures,
where he spent the residue of his life in contemplation,
and never came downe more. My authour of this tale
or figment (for indeede so I account it and no otherwise)
is our *Maron of Turin who horsed our company from
Lyons to Turin, and told us this upon the way.
Tedious The descent of the mountaine I found more wearysome
Descent. an d tedious then the ascent. For I rode all the way up
being assisted with my guide of Lasnebourg, but downe
I was constrained to walke a foote for the space of seven
miles. For so much it is betwixt the top and the foote
of the mountaine : in all which space I continually
descended headlong. The waies were exceeding uneasie.
For they were wonderfull hard, all stony and full of
windings and intricate turnings, whereof I thinke there
were at the least two hundred before I came to the foot.
Stil I met many people ascending, and mules laden with
carriage, and a great company of dunne kine driven up
* That is a guide or conductor.
226
OBSERVATIONS OF ITALY
the hill with collars about their neckes : in those waies I
found many stones wherein I plainly perceived the mettall Tin Metal.
of tinne, whereof I saw a great multitude. One of them
I tooke up in my hand, intending to carry it home into
England, but one of my company to whom I delivered
it to keepe for me, lost it.
The end of my observations of Savoy.
My observations of Italy.
I Rode from Novalaise about three of the clocke in the
afternoone the foresaid day, and came to St. Georges St. Georges.
a towne of Piemont, five miles therehence about sixe of
the clocke in the evening. Betwixt these places I [p. 81.]
observed nothing but only one towne called Susa, here
tofore Segusium, which is a very fine little towne well
seated, walled, having faire Churches in it, and a very
goodly strong Castle well planted with Ordinance. I
only passed by the towne, but went not into it. At the
townes end certain searchers examined us for money, A custom of
according to a custome that is used in many other townes Italy.
and Cities of Italy. For if a man doth carry more money
about him then is warranted or allowed in the country,
it is ipso facto confiscated to the Prince or Magistrate,
in whose territory a man is taken.
I rode from St. Georges about seven of the clocke in
the morning on Sunday, being the twelfth day of June,
and came about twelve of the clocke to a town in Piemont
called Rivole, which is nineteen miles therehence. My Rivoti.
observations betwixt St. Georges and Rivole are these.
At St. Georges I saw two severall Castles built on a rocke,
which are so near together, that they are even contigu
ous : I wondred to what purpose they built two Castles
so near. About sixe miles beyond Saint Georges, I saw
a very memorable and admirable thing, if that be true
which is reported of it. Rowland one of the twelve
Peeres of France, and the sisters sonne of Charlemaine
(of whose fortitude and prowesse there is mention in
227
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Delicate Hats
of Straw.
[p. 82.]
A memorable many of the auncient French historians) did cleave an
thing. exceeding hard stone in the middest, of a foote and halfe
thicke, with his sword, which stone is there shewed as
a monument of his puissance, and his picture in the wall
hard by the stone on horse-backe brandishing his sword.
I saw the Monastery of S. Michael built upon the top
of an exceeding high rocky hill, on the right hand of the
way about some twelve miles beyond St. Georges : there
are Monkes now living, as I heard some say.
In many places of Piemont I observed most delicate
strawen hats, which both men and women use in most
places of that Province, but especially the women. For
those that the women weare are very prety, some of them
having at the least an hundred seames made with silke,
and some pretily woven in the seames with silver, and
many flowers, borders, and branches very curiously
wrought in them, in so much that some of them were
valued at two duckatons, that is, eleven shillings.
I rod from Rivole about three of the clocke in the
afternoone that Sunday, and came to Turin which was
foure miles beyond it, about five of the clocke. I
observed these things betwixt Rivole and Turin. That
day being the twelfth of June, I saw Rie reaped a little
on this side Turin, which is about sixe weeks sooner then
we use to reape it in England. I saw infinite abundance
of wallnut-trees in that part of Piemont, and wonderfull
plenty of corne, especially Rie, and a marvailous even-
nesse and plainenesse of the ground for a great space, and
store of vines that grow not so low as in France, but
upon high poles or railes, a great deale higher from the
ground.
There rod in our company a merry Italian one Antonio,
that vaunted he was lineally descended from the famous
Marcus Antonius of Rome the Triumvir, and would
oftentimes cheer us with his sociable conceit : Courage,
The Devil is courage, le Diable est mort. That is, be merry, for the
dead. Devill is dead.
Turin.
228
OBSERVATIONS OF TURIN
E
My observations of Turin.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written this Octostichon
upon Turin.
Xcipiens gelidas patriis ex Alpibus auras
Hesperii princeps jus capit una soli.
Terra ferax, gens laeta, hilaris addicta choreis ;
Nil curans quicquid crastina luna vehat.
Ingenium natura aptum, sed more solutum,
Plus animo capiens, quam dare possit ope.
Felix Marte novo, felix melioribus armis,
Namque recens acuet pectora lenta metus.
I am sory I can speake so little of so flourishing and
beautifull a Citie. For during that little time that I
was in the citie, I found so great a distemperature in my
body, by drinking the sweete wines of Piemont, that
caused a grievous inflammation in my face and hands ;
so that I had but a smal desire to walke much abroad in
the streets. Therefore I would advise all English-men
that intend to travell into Italy, to mingle their wine
with water as soone as they come into the country, for
feare of ensuing inconveniences, and let them follow the
good counsell that learned Alciat giveth in his Epigram
upon the statue of Bacchus,
Quadrantem addat aquae, calicem sumpsisse falerni
Qui cupit, hoc sumi pocula more juvat.
and that most excellent rule of Meleager in his Epigram
upon wine, out of the first booke of the Anthologion
of Epigrams, page 82.
TovveKa crvS NfjWc^at? /Spo/uto? (piXos, ei $e viv elpyqs
/j.i(T<yeai oefy TTVO eTi Kaio/u.evov.
Surely I observed it to be a faire city, having many stately
buildings, both publique and private : it is the capitall
citie of Piemont, situate in a plaine, being in the East
incompassed with hils, well walled, and hath foure faire
gates, and a very strong citadel at the west end, exceeding
229
Scaliger s
verses upon
Turin.
[P- 83-]
Sweet wine to
be mingled
with water.
Turin a fair
city.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Augusta
Taurinorum.
well furnished with munition, wherein there are five
hundred peeces of Ordinance. This citie is built all
with bricke, and is of a square forme. The river Duria
runneth by it, and about a mile from the citie the famous
river Padus, which the Grecians called Eridanus, but the
The rwer Po. Italians at this day the Po. It is called Padus from the
French word Pade (as Munster writeth) which signifieth
a pitch tree, because store of them doe grow about the
[p. 84.] spring of the River, which is in the mountain Vesulus in
Liguria : it disgorgeth it self at length into the gulfe of
Venice, with six great mouthes, being first augmented
with thirty rivers that spring partly out of the Apennine
mountaines, and partly out of the Alpes. Many do travel
downe this river from Turin to Venice all by water, and
so save the travelling of two hundred and twenty seven
miles by land. For the young Prince of Savoy with all
his traine travelled to Venice down the Po when I was
at Turin. Heretofore this citie was called Augusta
Taurinorum, as many other noble cities have been called
by the name of Augusta : as Ratisbona in Bavaria
Augusta Tiberii, Curia in Rhetia Augusta Rhetorum,
Augusta Emerita in Portugall : but now there is one
onely Augusta, famous in Christendome, which is that
most renowned citie of Augusta Vindelicorum in high
Germany. This citie was a Colony of the Romanes, by
whom it was a long time inhabited. It received great
Turin sacked hurt in times past by the barbarous Gothes, who grievously
by the Goths, sacked and wasted it with fire and sword : but being
afterwards reedified, it was inhabited for the space of
many years by the Longobardes, who bare the sway of it
till their dominion in Italy was abrogated by Carolus
Magnus. After that it came into the hands of the Kings
of Italy, the Marquesses of Monsferratus, & lastly the
Dukes of Savoy, who keepe their residence and Court
there, having gotten so great power in Piemont, that
they now stile themselves Princes thereof. Near to this
citie there was fought that great battell betwixt Charles
the fift and Francis the first of that name, King of France,
230
OBSERVATIONS OF TURIN
Anno 1544, wherein twelve thousand of the Imperialists A great battle
were slaine, and all the rest were eyther taken prisoners, %?&. near
,,.,., i i Turin.
or having redeemed their liberty sent home into their
countrey without armes. The present Duke of Savoy
that keepeth his Court here is called Charles Emanuel,
unto whom there were two Cardinals sent Ambassadors
when I was there, whereof one was Cardinal Aldobrandino [p. 85.]
a Florentine, and sent from the Pope ; the other a
Spaniard sent from the King of Spaine. For there is
great amity and affinity betwixt the King of Spaine and
the Duke of Savoy, by reason that the Duke married the
Kings sister Margarita, which is dead, but he had some
children by her, as a Prince which is living, and certaine
daughters, whereof one was married to the Duke of
Modena, heretofore called Mutina ; near to which citie
the armies of Augustus Caesar and Marcus Antonius
fought. And another about some two moneths before
I came to Turin was married to Francis Gonzaga Prince
of Mantua, and son to Vincentius Gonzaga the present
Duke. The Dukes Palace seemeth to be faire, but I The Dukis
was not in it, onely I saw it without. He hath lately Pa ^ ace -
built a very goodly gallery, a work of notable magnificence
near the Palace. For it is of a very stately height, and
built all with white stone : Truely it is incomparably the
fairest that ever I saw saving the King of Frances at the
Loure in Paris. One of those Cardinals was very
pompously and magnificently attended. For seven or
eight stately Carochs of great personages attended at his
Palace dore, to accompany him as he rode abroad in the
evening to take the ayre. Also he was very royally
attended with a brave guard of the Dukes Switzers, who
at that time flanted it in very rich apparell, costly decked
with gold and silver lace.
I was at the Cathedrall Church, which is called St. Cathedral
Johns, wherein are many antiquities : in the Quire there
is a very stately Tabernacle above the high Altar,
supported with foure sumptuous pillars very richly gilt.
Also a goodly Pulpit in the Quire, and a very faire seate
231
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
on high at the north side of the Church for the Duke
to sit in, when he heareth the Sermon. This Latin
poesie is written on the wall on the right hand of the
Church as you go in near to an Altar, Assentatio gratiam,
veritas odium, & foemineae illecebras iniquitatem. In this
[p. 86.] citie is kept the Chancery of all Piemont. Also it is the
seat of an Archbishop, having been first an Episcopall
citie before it was graced with the dignity of an Arch-
The Bishops bishopricke. Of their Bishops I have read of one that
of Turin. flourished here about the year of our Lord 420, that was
a man of great fame and learning, one Maximus, whose
manifold writings are recited by John Trithemius that
learned Germane Abbot in his Catalogue of Ecclesiasticall
writers. Besides, it is beautified with an University
which did heretofore flourish, especially for the study
of the civil law and physicke but now Divinity also is
greatly professed there since the Jesuites have erected a
Colledge in it, who I thinke will never so grace and
adorne this citie with their Jesuiticall Divinity as that
famous man Caelius Secundus Curio who was born herein :
an d though at the first he was brought up in the Papisticall
Religion, yet at last when God had once illuminated his
understanding with the spirite of truth, hee abandoned
his countrey for religion sake, and went into Germany,
where he embraced the reformed religion, and ever after
in the University of Basil (where he lived and died)
most constantly professed it to his death. I could not
but mention this ornament of learning in this Discourse
of Turin, which was his native countrey, because I doe
much reverence the memory of so famous a man, that
with the excellent monuments of his wit, I mean his
learned bookes (whereof some I have read, and wherewith
he hath purchased himselfe immortality of name) hath
much benefited the Common-weale of good letters.
Thus much of Turin.
232
OBSERVATIONS OF PIEDMONT
I Rode in Coach from Turin on Munday, being the
thirteenth day of June about two of the clocke in
the afternoone, and came to a Parish called Sian in
Piemont about half an houre after eight of the clocke [p- 8 7-]
in the evening. This Sian was twenty miles beyond
Turin. My observations betwixt Turin and Sian were
these : I saw many goodly spacious grounds beyond
Turin, wonderfully replenished with corne, Vineyards,
Orchards, and a singular exuberancy of all manner of fruits.
The Vineyards in Piemont and Lombardy doe much Growth of
differ in growth from the French Vineyards. For the v ines in
Vines in most of these places doe grow upon trees that
are very orderly set in fine rankes about halfe a mile or
a mile long in some places. Betwixt these rankes or
rowes, which in some places are distant about a But-
length or two asunder, there grow many necessary
commodities, as corne or some kinde of fruites. Most
of those trees whereon the grapes doe grow are Maples ;
in some places Wai-nut-trees, and in others Willow trees
and Elmes. Also on both sides of these trees there are
set certaine pretty stakes in the earth to support the
Vines, that they may the more extend their branches in
length : These stakes are set out of the maine ranke of
trees. Againe the stakes are fastened in the ground in
the very ranke itselfe betwixt tree and tree ; so that
the greatest part of the grapes doe grow about these
stakes, and few on the tree. Many thousands of these
vines I have scene grow so high, that they have sprowted
cleane above the toppe of the tree.
Betwixt Turin and Sian I was transported over a A Ferry
Ferrie. This Italian transporting was done after a driven by a
pretty manner. For whereas there is a great long rope
that reacheth over the river, tied by certaine instruments
on both sides thereof, assoone as the horses and
passengers are put into the boat, one of the boatmen
that tarryeth at land turned a certaine wheele about by
meanes of that rope, by the motion of which wheele
the boat is driven on to the other banke.
233
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Betwixt Turin and Sian I saw a strange kinde of corne
[p. 88.] that I never saw before ; but I have read of it. It is
Panic, called Panicke. It groweth like an hearbe, and is as
greene as a leeke, having very long and broad leaves.
The graine of it is almost as great as a beane : poore
folkes do make most of their bread with it, and quailes
are much fedde with it. I saw great abundance of this
Panicke grow in many places of Italy both in Piemont
and Lombardie.
I observed that many of their women and children goe
onely in their smockes and shirts in divers places of the
countrey without any other apparrell at all by reason of
Extreme the extreme heat of the clymate ; and many of their
Heat. children which doe weare breeches, have them so made,
that all the hinder parts of their bodies are naked, for the
more coolenesse of the ayre.
I rod from Sian about foure of the clocke in the
morning, the fourteenth day of June being Tuesday, and
Vercelli. came to a faire City in Piemont called Vercellis, which
is eighteene miles from Sian, betwixt ten and eleven of
O *
the clocke. This fourteenth day of June was S. John
Baptists day in Italy, according to the new stile, which
is never with us in England before the foure and
twentieth of June. This day is very solemnely kept in
all the Cities, Townes, and Parishes of Italy, but in some
of the greater Cities as Rome, Venice, Naples, Millan,
Florence, &c. it is celebrated with very pompous and
sumptuous solemnity. These shewes I then observed in
Vercellis. At the comming in of the City without the
west gate there was erected a faire bower covered with
green boughs newly cut, under the which there stood a
cupboord furnished with the pictures of Christ and our
Lady, and with great abundance of exceeding costly plate.
Also I saw a Procession that the Priests solemnized in
the streets after that manner as in Paris upon Corpus
Christi day, accompanied with many singing boyes, and
men before them in surplices with burning tapers in
[p. 89.] their hands, and a great multitude of women and children
234
Sumptuous
Solemnity on
S. John
Baptisi sDay.
OBSERVATIONS OF VERCELLI
behinde, which carryed burning tapers also : they went
all in couples very orderly. But I never saw in all my
life such an ugly company of truls and sluts, as their
women were. Withall there was an exceeding shooting
of squibs in every street where the Procession passed.
This City of Vercellis is well situate in a plaine, by
the which there runneth a faire commodious river, called The River
in Latin Ticinus, in the Italian Tesino, which runneth Ticino.
to the City of Pavie, wherehence that City both in
former times hath beene called, and now is Ticinum : it
issueth out of the high mountaine Goddard, which is
one of the Rhetical Alpes that divide Italy and Germany.
It is well walled and hath many faire streets through
which divers rivers doe runne, with many stupples to
passe over from one side of the street to the other as in
Sarisbury.
This City received much harme by Autharus the third Lombard
King of the Longobardes, in the time of the Emperour Tyrants.
Mauricius, about the year 586, who by reason that the
Prefect thereof Dotrula, which was one of the thirty
Longobardical tyrants, revolted to Smaragdus the second
Exarche of Ravenna ; committed such spoile in Vercellis,
that he defaced more then halfe the City, and demolished
the wals round about the same, which he made even with
the ground also.
Neare to this City was that memorable overthrow of A memorable
Desiderius the twentieth and last King of the Longo- overthrow.
bards, so famoused by many classical historiographers.
For Carolus Magnus being sollicited by Adrian the
Pope, who had received some wrongs of Desiderius, to
come into Italy, and defend him against the Longobardes,
passed over the Alpes and with a great army confronted
them at Vercellis, where he did put their King to flight,
& having afterward taken him Prisoner in Pavie which
was the principall City, wherein the Kings of the Longo
bardes kept their Court, he sent him captive to Liege
a goodly City in the Netherlands, where he dyed in Exile, [p. 90.]
So this was the end of the Longobardicall Kingdom in
235
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Italy, which continued two hundred and four yeares from
Alboinus their first King.
I observed a custome in many Townes and Cities of
Italy, which did not a little displease me, that most of
their best meats which come to the table are sprinkled
Meat w ith cheese, which I love not so well as the Welchmen
sprinkled with j oe ^ wnere by i was oftentimes constrained to leese my
share of much good fare to my great discontentment.
In most of their Innes they have white cannopies
and curtains, made of needle work, which are edged with
very faire bone-lace.
Here I wil mention a thing that might have been
spoken of before in discourse of the first Italian towne.
I observed a custome in all those Italian Cities and Townes
through the which I passed, that is not used in any other
country that I saw in my travels, neither doe I thinke
that any other nation of Christendome doth use it, but
only Italy. The Italian and also most strangers that are
commorant in Italy, doe alwaies at their meales use a little
Forks used in forke when they cut their meat. For while with their
feeding. knife which they hold in one hand they cut the meate
out of the dish, they fasten their forke which they hold
in their other hand upon the same dish, so that whatsoever
he be that sitting in the company of any others at meale,
should unadvisedly touch the dish of meate with his
fingers from which all at the table doe cut, he will give
occasion of offence unto the company, as having trans
gressed the lawes of good manners, in so much that for
his error he shall be at the least brow-beaten, if not
reprehended in wordes. This forme of feeding I under
stand is generally used in all places of Italy, their forkes
being for the most part made of yron or steele, and
some of silver, but those are used only by Gentlemen.
The reason of this their curiosity is, because the Italian
[p. 91.] cannot by any means indure to have his dish touched
with fingers, seing all mens fingers are not alike cleane.
Hereupon I my selfe thought good to imitate the Italian
fashion by this forked cutting of meate, not only while
236
OBSERVATIONS OF LOMBARDY
I was in Italy, but also in Germany, and oftentimes in
England since I came home : being once quipped for
that frequent using of my forke, by a certain learned
Gentleman, a familiar friend of mine, one M. Laurence
Whitaker, who in his merry humour doubted not to call
me at table furcifer, only for using a forke at feeding,
but for no other cause.
I rod from Vercellis about two of the clocke in the
afternoone on S. John Baptists day, and came to a towne
called Buffolero in Lombardy, twenty miles therehence, Bufolero.
about halfe an houre after eight of the clocke in the
evening.
Here I hold it fit to speake a little of the name of
Lombardy, and the fertility thereof. We reade in
histories that the Longobardes, whose first habitation Lombards
was in a part of Saxony about the confluent of the rivers first habitation
Sala and Albis, being exceedingly multiplied in their owne in Saxon y-
country, transmigrated into a bordering Island called
Rugia, which now belongeth to the Marquesse of
Brandenburg. But because the same was not able to
maintaine them all by reason of the great increase of
their families, they resolved to goe into some more fertile
country, and so after long travel! they came into Pannonia,
where having lived about two and forty years, they were
invited into Italy by Narses the Eunuch upon this
occasion. The Emperesse Sophia wife to the Emperour The Empress
Justinus the second, being offended with Narses for that Sophia.
he was accused to the Emperour for his tyrannicall and
unjust dealing with the Italians, over whom he had then
great authority, sent him word that he must come home
to attend spinning women, and to deliver wooll and flaxe
to them, seing he was fitter for such a purpose, because [p- 92-]
he was an Eunuch, then to beare such sway in Italy as
he did. Narses being grievously exasperated with this
bitter scoffe sent back the Emperesse this message, that
seing shee would needs employ him about spinning, he
would spinne such a threade as she should never be able
to untwist while shee lived ; whereupon incontinently
23?
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
he sent Ambassadors from Naples to the Longobardes
into Pannonia, to allure them into Italy, being a country
replenished with all manner of commodities, necessary
for mans life. The Longobardes rejoycing to hear this
newes, posted with bagge and baggage into Italy, under
Albolnus tne conduct of their captaine Alboinus, and having
Captain of conquered many faire cities that resisted them, as
the Lombards. Tarvisium, Vicenza, Verona, Milan, &c. at last they
planted themselves in this country, which they called
after their own name, choosing first Verona, and after
that Papia, for the place of their kings residence. That
their comming into Italy was like to be very terrible to
the inhabitants of the country, it was portended by divers
fearfull prodigies. For not long before they entered the
country there were seene fiery armies skirmishing in the
aire : also bloud gushed out of the earth and the wals of
houses. And many other strange accidents were observed
which betokened some great calamities. Some thinke
Lombards or these people were called Longobardi quasi Longobarbi,
Long-beards, because they wore long beards. This territory wherein
they lived had before sundry other names. As Gallia
Togata, Gallia Cisalpina, Insubria (which indeede
extended not it selfe so farre as the country called
by the former names. For Insubria contained no more
then that part of Lombardy which includeth the Dutchy
of Milan,) but at this day by corruption of the name,
it is called Lombardy. Surely such is the fertility of this
country, that I thinke no Region or Province under the
Sunne may compare with it. For it is passing plentifully
[p. 93.] furnished with all things, tending both to pleasure and pro
fit, being the very Paradise, and Canaan of Christendome.
The garden of For as Italy is the garden of the world, so is Lombardy
Italy. the garden of Italy, and Venice the garden of Lombardy.
It is wholly plaine, and beautified with such abundance
of goodly rivers, pleasant meadowes, fruitfull vineyardes,
fat pastures, delectable gardens, orchards, woodes, and
what not, that the first view thereof did even refocillate
my spirits, and tickle my senses with inward joy. To
238
OBSERVATIONS OF LOMBARDY
conclude this introduction to Lombardy, it is so fertile
a territory, that (as my learned and eloquent friend M.
Richard Martin of the middle Temple once wrote to me
a most elegant letter) the butter thereof is oyle, the dew
hony, and the milk nectar.
After I was passed a few miles from Vercellis, I came
into the Dukedome of Milan, which is now the King
of Spaines Dominion, the first City whereof was Novara Novara.
a very auncient and faire City well seated : therein we
were examined. In this City there dwelleth a great
company of Spaniards with their families. Betwixt Sian
and Buffolero I passed three ferries.
Neare unto this citie was fought a memorable battel
betwixt the French men and the Italians, wherein the
Switzers shewed a notable example of treachery, which
happened thus. Anno 1500. Lodowic Duke of Milan
holding Novara, the Switzers being practised under hand Switzers
by a great summe of money offered them by Tremoville Treachery.
commaunder of the French forces, which were then in
Italy, did mutinously demand their pay of Lodowic.
Whereupon Lodowic gave them all his plate, but that
would not satisfie them : they caused the French armie
to approach to Novara, to the intent to draw Lodowic
into the fielde. Lodowic comes forth with his army, and
with his light horse beginnes the charge ; Tremoville
with the other French leaders made it good upon him,
& put the Italians to flight. The Switzers being pressed
to fight by Lodowic refused it, and compassing in Lodowic
with the presse of their nation, for all the intreaties hee [p. 94-]
could use to them, would not be perswaded to desist from
their treacherous enterprise, onely he got a promise from
them to set him in a place of safety : and so they agreed
that disguised and armed like a Switzer a foot, he should
march amongst them : but he was discovered and taken
prisoner, and carried into France to the castle of Loches,
where at last hee died, after he had lived ten years in
prison.
After I was entered into Lombardy I observed many
2 39
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
pleasant plaines, and infinite abundance of fat meadows.
Also I saw marveilous store of goodly Oxen in every
place of the country, whereof almost all were dunne.
Carts drawn All those Oxen that drew Cartes had certain white linnen
coverings cast over their bodies, and fastened upon their
backes with little woodden peeces that came athwart.
This they did to the end to keep away the flies from
their bodies, which would otherwise much infest them.
I rode from Buffolero about foure of the clocke in the
morning the fifteenth day of June being Wednesday, and
came to Milan about eleven of the clocke. Betwixt
Buffolero and Milan it is twenty miles.
I observed no extraordinary thing in this space, but
onely goodly Meadowes, Vineyards, Orchards, and such
other things as I have heretofore mentioned.
My Observations of Milan.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written these verses upon
Milan.
Scaliger s /^Ompositos populos, validique exordia regni
" es on \^ excepit facili terra beata sinu.
r Creverat Ausonio commistus sanguine Gallus,
& dabat antique fortia jura Pado.
Tertia se adjunxit tantis Germania rebus,
& stetit audaci fama parata manu.
Quaevis simplicibus jactet se gloria signis :
cum triplex uni contigit aucta mihi.
Also the Poet Ausonius hath written these verses upon
Milan.
Ausonius^ w ^ T Mediolani mira omnia, copia rerum,
x>erses - I> Innumerae cultaeque domus, facunda virorum
Ingenia, antiqui mores, turn duplice muro
Amplificata loci species, populique voluptas
Circus, & inclusi moles cuneata theatri :
Templa, Palatinaeque arces, opulensque moneta,
Et regio Herculei Celebris sub honare lavacri,
240
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
Cunctaque marmoreis ornata peristyla signis,
Moeniaque in valli formam circundata limbo.
Omnia quae magnis operum velut aemula formis
Excellunt, nee juncta premit vicinia Romae.
Milan is situate in a plaine, compassed round about Milan.
with the famous river Tesino before mentioned. First
it was but an obscure and ignoble countrey village,
founded by the ancient Hetruscans, and after inhabited
by the Insubres, wherehence the territory round about
it was called Insubria. But in continuance of time
Bellovesus the sonne of Ambigatus King of the Celtae
after he had conquered the countrey about it, amplified
this village, and made it a faire Citie, even about the
time of Tarquinius Priscus the fifth King of Rome. At
the time of the amplification and inlarging by Bellovesus
there happened a very strange accident, which gave A very
occasion of the denomination. For when it was new str ^S e
building, a certaine wilde Sow that came forth of an olde accldent -
ruinous house very early in the morning, hapned to meet
some of those that were set aworke about the building
of the city. This Sow had halfe her body covered with
hard bristly haire as other Pigges are, and the other halfe
with very soft and white wooll : which portentum, [p- 9^-]
Bellovesus took for a very happy and ominous token, so
that he caused the city to be called Mediolanum from the
halfe-woolled Sow. What his reason was why he should
esteem this strange spectacle, for such a luckie token I
know not, but I conjecture it might be this : perhaps he
supposed that the bristly haire might presage strength
and puissance in his subjects, and the wooll plenty of
necessary meanes that might tend to the clothing of their
bodies. He environed it with a wall foure and twenty Milan a great
foote broad, and sixty foure foote high, and built sixe c ty-
gates therein : it is at the least seven miles about, and
hath tenne gates in all, whereof foure have beene added
by some benefactors, to the six that Bellovesus built.
Many auncient monuments and worthy antiquities are to
c. c. 241 Q
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
be scene in this glorious city. The Church wherein St.
Church of Ambrose Bishop of Milan in the time of Theodosius the
S. Ambrose. fi rs t was buried, which Church he built himselfe to the
honour of the holy Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius.
This Church is now called St. Ambroses : it was the first
Christian Temple in all the City, in the which the body
of St. Ambrose lieth interred under an Altar in a deepe
cave of the ground, being supported with foure iron
chaines, and by his body there lieth a certaine booke
that he wrote. This Altar I saw. Also I saw the place
where St. Ambrose stood when he prohibited the
Emperour Theodosius to enter the Church after hee had
committed that great slaughter of seven thousand men
at Thessalonica, which is much mentioned in the Ecclesi-
asticall Historiographers. Hee stood at the Church
porch at the comming in. A little before the entrance
of this Church there is a pretty Chappell, wherein are
painted the pictures of S. Ambrose, S. Augustin,
Deodatus, and Alipius. For in that Chappell S. Ambrose
baptised them three in a Font hard by the Altar, which
is yet to be scene. There also I saw the way wherein
S. Ambrose and S. Augustin walked together when they
[p. 97.] sung the hymne Te Deum laudamus. In this Church
there are shewed two very ancient monuments, especially
one which is the auncientest of al Christendome, if that
were true which they report of it. For then it would
be three thousand five hundred years old : namely the
Moses brasen serpent which Moses erected in the wildernesse
Brazen as a type and figure of Christ, to the end that they which
Serpent. were bitten with any fiery Serpents might be cured only
by looking upon it. They say this Serpent was bestowed
upon this Church by the Emperour Theodosius. It is
erected upon a goodly marble pillar of some twelve or
sixteene foote high in the body of the Church on the left
hand as you come in from the great gate. Verily I
wonder that the Papists can be so impudent to delude
the people with these most palpable mockeries. For it
is a meere improbability, yea and an impossibility that
242
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
this should be the true Serpent, because we read in the
holy * Scriptures that the godly King Ezekias caused it
to be broken in pieces, because the children of Israeli did
burne incense to it, and called it Nehushtan, that is, a
peece of brasse. Yet maugre the authority of Gods
word, these people doe not sticke to say that they have
the selfe same serpent. But their impudency were more
tollerable, if they would say it were only a representation
of the serpent. The other monument is an exceeding
rich needle worke, interlaced very curiously with abund- Rich needle-
ance of gold and silver, that presents a very goodly work about
picture of Moyses, and histories of matters that happened 2 00 ^
in Moyses time : this rich Tapistry is hanged about the
roofe of the Chappell wherein S. Ambroses body is
interred, and is reported to be above two thousand yeares
old.
Amongst other notable antiquities that are kept in this
Church, there is one thing which (in my opinion) is not
to be esteemed of the least account, namely an auncient
Greeke manuscript copie of these two excellent bookes
of Judaicall antiquities, which that learned Jew, Flavius [p. 98.]
Josephus wrote in Rome, after the destruction of
Jerusalem, under the Emperour Titus Vespasianus against
Appion a Grammarian of Alexandria. This originall is An ancient
written in ancient Longobard characters in parchment, Greek
being so old that they are even worm-eaten. But I must manuscn P t -
needs confesse the truth that I saw not this booke, but
onely heard it of a learned man in the citie, and doe the
more certainly believe it, because Gesnerus in his
Bibliotheca affirmeth as much, even in the Index of the
workes of that learned Doctor of the Church Ruffinus
Priest of Aquileia, who translated the said two bookes
into Latin. Neare to this Temple of S. Ambrose there
are to be seene the rudera of a Temple built by Nero,
which he dedicated to the honour of the Paynim Gods :
many pillars of it remaine, but the roofe is open and
uncovered.
* 2 King. 1 8. 4.
243
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
S. Barnabas.
The
Cathedral
Church of
Our Lady.
[P- 99-]
Cardinal
Borromeeo
buried in
Milan.
This Citie was first converted to the Christian faith
by S. Barnabas, at what time Peter was Bishop of
Antioch, before he came to Rome. S. Barnabas his
fountaine is to this day shewed in Milan, neare to the
which he lived, and baptised many with the water thereof,
which hath the vertue at this day to cure those that hath
the ague, and many other diseases.
The Cathedral Church is dedicated to our Lady, which
John Galeatius Duke of Milan caused to be built, anno
1386. This is an exceeding glorious and beautifull
Church, as faire if not fairer then the Cathedral Church
of Amiens, which I have before so much magnified. All
this Church seemeth to be built with marble : herein are
many notable things to be seene : in the Quire the bodies
of many of the Vicounts of Milan, which were partly of
the family of the Galeatii, and partly of the Sfortiae, are
interred. In the body of the Church there are four rowes
of white marble pillars, which doe exceedingly beautify
the Church : in each row are sixe pillars. Also I saw a
monument of a certaine Bishop of Milan called Marcus,
who bestowed thirty and five thousand duckets towards
the building of the Church. Moreover that famous
Cardinal Carolus Borromseus Archbishop of Milan, and
greatly reverenced in his time for the purity and sancti
mony of his life, was buried in this Church. The image of
Christ which is elevated to an exceeding height is erected
over the entrance of the Quire : it is very richly gilt,
with the images of the Virgin Mary and S. John at the
sides of it. Right above Christs image, these wordes
are written in capitall golden letters : Attendite ad Petram
unde excisi estis. There are seven or eight goodly
Altars in this Church (besides the high Altar) adorned
with sumptuous pillars of rich marble. I ascended
almost to the toppe of the Tower ; wherehence I
surveyed the whole citie round about, which yeelded a
most beautifull and delectable shew. There I observed
the huge suburbs, which are as bigge as many a faire
towne, and compassed about with ditches of water : there
244
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
also I beheld a great part of Italy, together with the
lofty Apennines ; and they shewed me which way Rome,
Venice, Naples, Florence, Genua, Ravenna, &c. lay. The
territory of Lombardy, which I contemplated round
about from this Tower, was so pleasant an object to mine A pleasant
eyes, being replenished with such unspeakable variety of surve y-
all things, both for profite and pleasure, that it seemeth
to me to be the very Elysian fields, so much decantated
and celebrated by the verses of Poets, or the Tempe or
Paradise of the world. For it is the fairest plaine,
extended about some two hundred miles in length that
ever I saw, or ever shall if I should travell over the
whole habitable world : insomuch that I said to myselfe
that this country was fitter to be an habitation for the
immortall Gods then for mortall men. There is one
most notable monument kept in this Church, which it
was not my happe to see, one of the nayles wherewith
Christ was crucified, as they afrlrme. For they say that
Theodosius the Emperor bestowed it upon S. Ambrose,
who placed it first in the Church of Saint Tecla, from [? I00 -]
whence it was afterward brought to this Church.
I saw the auncient Palace of the Vicounts of Milan, The ancient
which is a most magnificent building, at the front whereof Pa ^ f
are erected twelve statues in milke-white stone of the
Vicounts to the middle as they ruled by degrees, succes
sively one after another. One of these Vicounts whose
name was Otho, gave the arms to the Dukedome of
Milan, as Claudius Minos in his learned Commentaries
upon Alciats emblems, even upon the first embleme doth
mention, where he citeth a memorable history out of three
worthy Authours, Alciat himselfe, Francis Petrarch, and
Paulus Jovius. But that which he taketh out of Jovius,
which I must applaude above the rest, I will here alleage,
seeing in this discourse of the Palace of the Vicounts, it
is not impertinent to mention so notable a matter as this.
When as Otho Vicount of Milan, a man of great prowesse
and courage, in the time of the warre against the Turkes
and Saracens, under the conduct of Godfry Duke of
245
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A memorable Boulogne, fought in a single combat with a certain
duel Saracen called Volucis, who in the middest of the field
challenged the stoutest Christian of all the army to a
duell ; he conquered him with no lesse fortitude then
happinesse, and having slaine him he got from him a
spoile ful of immortal glory, namely a golden Viper that
was erected upon the crest of his helmet, curiously repre
sented with his winding circles, and devouring of a young
child, which one argument of his happy puissance was
afterward used by his posterity for the armes of the
Dukedome, as being a thing that portended the flourishing
estate and glory of the City. Some doe thinke that the
said Saracen Volucis was descended of the stocke of
Alexander the Great, and that therefore he used the Viper
for his arms, in regard that a Viper according to a certaine
fable of Olympias, the Mother of the foresaid Alexander,
[p. i oi.] did once bring forth a child. For shee reported that
shee was begotten with child by a certaine Dragon that
presented himselfe unto her in the shape of Jupiter :
which was the reason that her sonne Alexander did
afterward give the Viper, bringing forth a child for his
arms. Thus farre Minos out of Jovius.
A Library, I went to the Library of Cardinall Borromaeus, which
but no books, is an exceeding faire peece of workmanship, but it is not
fully finished, so that there is not one booke in it, but
it is said it shall be shortly furnished.
There is a singular beautifull Monastery in this City
of Ambrosian Monks, where I saw a most sumptuous
The Hall hall, built by one Calixtus Laudensis, Anno Domini 1 547,
of the t h e roo f e whereof is very loftily concamerated, and
adorned with many exquisite pictures of religious
matters : in the middle there is a pulpit, wherein at
their meales they reade the Legend of the Saints : in
this hall there are twelve tables for the Monks to sit at
their meales, whereof five are in one side, five in the
other, and two at the higher end. The Monks sit only
at the inside of the table : at the lower end of the hall
there are many faire religious pictures. The Cloisters
246
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
are many, and very faire both for breadth and length,
and the multitude of goodly pillars. Likewise there is
a great company of faire galleries, and three or four
delectable gardens belonging to this Monastery, full of
variety of pleasant fruits.
The Church of the Augustinian Monkes is passing A glorious
glorious, being for the richnesse of the marble pillars, thurch.
the curiosity of the pictures, and the sumptuousnesse of
the roofe, which is wonderfull richly imbossed with gilt
bosses, the fairest that ever I saw till then, even fairer
then Amiens Church, though indeede nothing so great.
A certaine Merchant of Genua hath a very beautifull
house in this City neare the Jesuitical Church : it is
the fairest that I saw in all Milan, even fairer then the
Vicounts Palace, three stories high, very large, and full
of roomes. The whole outside is built with white stone,
and adorned with many curious workes. [p. 102.]
There is a very magnificent Hospitall in this City,
wherein are an hundred and twelve chambers, and foure 4000 poor
thousand poore people are relieved in the same. The P e P* e r " tevet *
i f i i 11 r < tn the
yearehe revenues or it are said to be at the least fifty ^ os pi ta i
thousand crownes.
No City of Italy is furnished with more manuary arts Excellent
then this, which it yeeldeth with as much excellency as manuar y arts -
any City of all Christendome, especially two, embrodering
and making of hilts for swords and daggers. Their
embroderers are very singular workemen, who worke
much in gold and silver. Their cutlers that make hilts
are more exquisite in that art then any that I ever saw.
Of these two trades there is a great multitude in the
city : Also silkemen do abound here, which are esteemed
so good that they are not inferiour to any of the Christian
world.
The Citadell is the fairest without any comparison
that ever I saw, farre surpassing any one Citadell what
soever in Europe, as I have heard worthy travellers report.
For it is so great that it seemeth rather a towne then a
Citadell, being distinguished by many spacious and goodly
247
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Citadel of
incomparable
strength.
greene courts, which are invironed with faire rowes of
houses like streets, wherein the Spaniards dwell with their
families, and exercise divers manuary trades. Also in
these courts as it were certaine market places, there are
usually markets kept : of these courts I saw foure or five
severally.
This Citadell is of an incomparable strength both by
nature and art ; at the first gate this inscription is written
in great Roman letters in gold. Philippus secundus
Catholicus, Maximus Hispaniarum Rex, Potens, Justus,
& Clemens. The whole Citadell is built with brick, and
covered with faire tile, saving two bulwarks thereof which
are very strong and ancient, built with free stone, which
is so laid that the whole outside is very curiously contrived
with diamond workes. And the foundation thereof is so
deepe, that it is just as farre from a certaine stony circle
that appeareth a little above the ground to the bottom of
the foundation, as it is from that circle to the toppe of
the bulwarke. There was heretofore an other bulwarke
farre fairer then either of these two. For the front of
it was adorned with the marble images of the Patrones
and principall Benefactors of the City, together with the
Armes of the Sfortiae Dukes of Milan, which built the
same : but in the time that Francis the French King held
A very dismal it, by a very dismall chance it was all blowen up with
gunne-powder that was kept in the same, which hapned
to be set a fire Anno 1521 by lightning that fell from
heaven. The force whereof not only razed the bulwarke
from the very foundations, but also overthrew a great
part of the wals of the Citadell, together with the
chambers and adjoyning roomes ; and the stones that
flew about slew the two Captains of the Citadell, who
a little before came towards a little chappell neer to the
gate, to the end to make their oraizons to the Virgin
Mary, according to their daily custome. The same
stones killed others also of the souldiers which walked
abroade in the evening to take the aire (for this tragicall
chance hapned in the sommer) and of others brake the
248
chance.
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
heads, armes, and legges. So that of two hundred
souldiers there were but twelve escaped alive. The
Citadell is moted round about with a broade mote of
fine running water, and many other sweet rivers and
delectable currents of water doe flow within the Citadell. Abundance of
In one of these rivers there are two milles, whereof the water.
one is for grinding of corne, the other for making of gun
powder. Also whereas these rivers doe runne into the
towne to the great commodity of the townesmen, the
inhabitants can at all times when they list restraine the
passage of them, and so barre the townesmen of the use
of them, to their great prejudice and discommodity ; but
so cannot the townesmen on the contrary side restraine [p. 104.]
the inhabitants of the Citadell.* There is a store house
in this Citadell, wherein is kept provision of corne, oyle,
and other things necessary for the sustaining of a band
of souldiers for three yeares. In the middle bulwarke
of the Citadell I saw two breaches that were made in the
wall by the shot of Charles the fifth his souldiers, (as the
Spaniards told me) when Charles besieged Francis the
French King there. The munition of the Citadell is The munition
so much, especially for great peeces of Ordinance, that I of the Citadel.
think no Citadell of all Christendome may compare with
it. In each of these two great bulwarks that I first
mentioned, there are five very huge peeces of Ordinance
that exceed all the rest. About the toppe of the Citadel
there is a very long gallery which is square, and divided
into foure long walkes, that are replenished with wonder-
full store of Ordinance, whereof part are planted Eastward
against the towne, to batter it if it should make an
insurrection ; and part on the contrary side Westward
against the country if that should rebell. For a great
part of Lombardy Westward belongeth to the Citadel,
for the sustentation of the presidiary souldiers, who are
all Spaniards, being in number five hundred. In one of
these foure long walkes I reckoned about eight and
* Neare to one of these Rivers I saw a pretty amorous sight ; a woman
naked from the middle upward sitting at her worke.
249
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
twenty great peeces, besides those of the lesser sort, as
Sakers. Whereof one among the rest was exceeding
Great great, and about sixteene foote long, made of brasse, a
Ordnance, demy culverlin, which was once the Duke of Saxonies,
whose armes were made in it with the year of our Lord
1533. Another at the end of the same walke, longer
then this by foure foote, which was said to carry a bullet
at the least eight miles, which I doe hardly beleeve to
be true. This was an whole culverlin. They report
that there are peeces in this Citadel which will carry a
bullet of eight hundred pound weight. Also I saw an
exceeding huge Basiliske, which was so great that it would
[p. 105.] easily contayne the body of a very corpulent man. So
many there are of them in the Citadel, that I thinke the
totall number of them is at the least two hundred. Also
I saw an yron grate where all the peeces are drawen up
to the gallery from a very deepe place underneath. And
a very faire little Chappel wherein they say Masse, in
which there is a marvailous rich Altar and Tabernacle.
When I came forth of the Citadel, after I had survayed
An Angry all the principal places, a certain Spaniard imagining that
Spaniard. \ na d beene a Flemming expressed many tokens of anger
towards me, and lastly railed so extremely at me, that
if I had not made haste out with my company, I was
afeard he would have flung a stone at my head, or other
wise have offered some violence to me. There is such
an extreme hatred betwixt the Milanois and the Spaniards,
that neither the Milanois doe at any time come into the
Citadel, nor the Spaniards into the City, but only in the
evening.
We reade in Histories, that many of the Roman
Emperours, and other great personages of the Citie of
Rome, did sometimes make their residence in Milan,
partly for their recreation, as being a place that abounded
with all manner of delights that the heart of man can
wish for ; and partly to the end to defend and fortifie
that part of Italic against the incursions of the Trans
alpine people, who did often conveigh their forces over
250
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
the Alpes into Italy, and annoyed the Italians. For this The Roman
cause Julius Caesar made his abode here, who (as Plutarch Emperors
writeth in his life) kept very honourable hospitality in a J*? e m
this Citie ; here also resided Pompey the Great ; Trajan,
who built a sumptuous Pallace heere, whereof part is to
bee scene at this day ; Adrian ; Constantius the Emperour
the third Sonne of the Emperour Constantine the Great ;
Valentinian the first ; Theodosius the first, who after his
miraculous victorie of Eugenius and Arbogastes in
Lombardy, spent three yeares in this Citie in company
with that godly Bishop Saint Ambrose, and at last
died here : also his body being afterwards transported [p. 106.]
to Constantinople. Here lived Placidia Galla the
Emperesse, sister to the Emperour Honorius, and
wife to the Emperour Constantius, who was Honorius
his Colleague and fellow Augustus in the Empire. Here
I say she lived while her husband was abroad in the warres,
and built a most magnificent temple dedicated to Saint
Aquilinus, which is to this day standing, but I confesse
I saw it not. Here raigned Bertarius the second sonne
of Aribertus the ninth King of the Longobardes, while
his eldest brother Godebertus raigned in Pavie.
In this Citie Pipin King of Italy the second sonne of
Charlemaine by his second wife Hildegardis ended his
life, but he was buried in Verona, whose monument I
saw there, as I shall hereafter declare in my description of
that Citie. Here dyed that famous and victorious Prince, Theodoric
Theodoricus Veronensis King of the Gothes, who raigned King of the
thirty three yeares in Ravenna, after hee had conquered Goths.
and slaine Odoacer the Rugian that usurped the kingdome
of Italy fourteene yeeres, by expelling Augustulus the
last Emperour of Rome and the Sonne of Orestes ;
betwixt which Augustulus his time and Charlemaine
being above three hundred and thirty yeares, there was
no King in Italy, but a very confused and turbulent
government, partly by the Exarches of Ravenna, and
partly by the Longobardicall Kings of Pavie. Heere
also died Ludovicus the second Emperour of that name,
251
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
[P. 107.]
after he had warred in Italy partly with the Saracens in
the Territory of Beneventum, and partly with Adalgisius
Prince of Salerne, even in the year 874. and of his
raigne the nineteenth.
Here was borne and lived Dioclesians Colleague,
Maximinian. Maximinian, that bloudy persecutor of the Christians,
who surnamed himselfe Herculeus, here I say he lived
after Dioclesian and himselfe had abandoned the Empire,
and here he built a Temple dedicated to Hercules, which is
now consecrated to the honour of Saint Laurence. This
Maximinian would have had the Citie no more called
Mediolanum, but Herculeum. He ordained when he
lived here, that all the Emperours should be here crowned
with an yron crowne before they should bee called Kings
of Italy ; which solemnity hath continued ever since,
and to this day is performed by our Christian Emperours
in the Church of S. Ambrose, the Archbishop of Milan
crowning them, but the crowne is kept at Modoetia a
towne in Lombardie about some ten miles from Milan.
Here also was borne another Emperour, namely Didius
Julianus the successor of Pertinax. Here met Con-
stantine the Great with his Colleague in the Empire
Licinius, when he marched with his army towards Rome
against his tyrannicall brother in law Maxentius ; and
before he went out of this Citie, here was a most royall
and magnificent marriage celebrated betwixt the saide
Licinius and the Lady Constantia sister to the Emperour
Constantine aforesaid. Moreover many famous men
have studied here, and dedicated themselves to the Muses,
as the Poet Virgill, Valerius Maximus, who was borne
here also, the same that dedicated that excellent booke of
Examples to Tiberius Caesar, which is so common now a
dayes in the hands of the learned. Alipius that lived
in Saint Augustines time. Hermolaus Barbarus Patriarch
of Aquileia that flourished in the time of Angelus
Politian : George Merula a great aemulus of Politian :
Francis Philelphus that excellent orator and Poet that lived
anno 1480. Ludovicus Cselius Rodiginus so famous for
252
Constantine
TAe Great.
Famous men
studied in
Milan.
OBSERVATIONS OF MILAN
his thirty bookes antiquarum lectionum ; and the most
famous and elegant Civilian Andreds Alciatus, the Author
of many learned workes published to the world. Heere
was he borne and a long time studied. Here was borne
that constant Martyr of Jesus Christ Saint Sebastian, s. Sebastian.
who was shot to death with arrowes under the Emperour
Dioclesian, whose picture made according to his Martyr-
dome, I often observed erected over the Altars of many [p. 108.]
Papistical Churches, as in our Lady Church of Paris,
and divers other places.
The government of this Citie hath according to the Many
change of times come to many severall Lords, first cfian S es f
Bellovesus the Gaule that was the inlarger thereof,
swayed it many yeares ; next the people of Rome ; after
that the Latin Emperours for many yeares* Then the
Greeke Emperours of Constantinople succeeded after the
imperiall seat was translated from Rome to Byzantium.
Then againe the Gothes whose Court was at Ravenna :
then the Kings of Italy after the time of Carolus
Magnus : and againe the Emperours of Germany : after
them Martinus Turrianus, and other noble wights of
that familie : after them the two potent and illustrious
families of the *Galeatii and Sfortiae one hundred and
seventie yeares, till Francis Sfortia the last Vicount, who Francis
was taken prisoner by Francis the French King, and died s f orza the
Anno. 1435. the twenty fourth of October: but now by last 7iscount -
the fatal revolution of times it is devolved to the honour
able house of Austria. Likewise it hath suffered many
devastations and depopulations, being first wasted by
Brennus in the time of that valiant Roman Worthy
Camillus. Secondly that flagellum Dei that barbarous
King of the Hunnes Attila which was about foure hundred
yeares after Christ, and in the time of that godly Pope
Leo the first. Thirdly by Vitiges the fourth Gothical
King of Ravenna, who with most mercilesse and out-
* These were so called quasi Galliatii from the Latin word gallus,
which signifieth a cocke, because certaine cocks crowed al that night in
Milan, that Matthew the Vicount begot his first sonne.
253
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
ragious cruelty sacked the same, and slew thirty thousand
Frederick Citizens. Lastly Fredericus Barbarossa alias ^Enobarbus,
Barbarossa. after he had continually besieged it for the space of two
yeares, wasted it with that hostility, that he strewed the
City and many places of the territory with salt in steede
of corne, having first turned up the ground with a plough.
Hard by this City was the Emperour Gallienus together
with his brother Valerianus slaine, about the yeare of
[p. 109.] our Lord 271, at what time he besieged Milan against
one Aureolus, a notable rebell against the Roman Empire.
Here was that good and victorious Emperour Flavius
Claudius the successor of the foresaid Gallienus chosen
by the army, who had beene one of Gallienus his
principall Captaines at the siege of Milan. Here the
said Emperour Claudius conquered and slew Aureolus
before mentioned, who was proclaimed Emperour in
Dalmatia by the Roman legions that resided there, and
was one of the thirty Tyrants, so famoused by the
historians that rose in divers Provinces of the Empire
against Gallienus.
1 68 There are reported to be in Milan eleven Colledge
Churches. Churches, threescore and ten Parish Churches, thirty of
Regular Monkes, eight of Regular Clarkes, sixe and
thirty of Nunnes. In all one hundred threescore and
120 Schools, eight. There are a hundred and twenty Schooles in the
city, wherein children are taught the principles of
Christian religion : it is thought there are not so few as
three hundred thousand soules in this city.
Thus much of Milan.
I
Rode in Coach from Milan the sixteenth day of June
being Thursday, about two of the clocke in the
Lodi. afternoone, and came to the city of Lodi, being twenty
miles therehence, about nine of the clocke in the evening.
In this space I observed nothing memorable, but only
the drawing of lino in many places of their ground, of
which lino they make their flaxe, and with their flaxe
fine linnen for sheets, shirts, bands, curtaines for their
254
OBSERVATIONS OF LODI
beds, &c. and some linnen they make of a courser sort,
of which kinde the apparell of most of their country
people is made. At night one sinister accident hapned A sinister
to me, that whereas I came very late to the city, the gates accident.
were locked that I could by no meanes be admitted within
the city. Whereupon being destitute of a lodging, I [p. no.]
reposed my selfe all that night in a certaine Inne in the
suburbes of the city, where lodging was so scarce by
reason that the house was before overladen with guests,
that I was constrained to lye all that night in the coach
I rode in. This city is called in Latin Lauda, and Laus
Pompeia, because it is neare unto a city of that name
three miles distant from it that was once built by the
father of Pompey the Great, but now utterly ruinated.
This city was destroyed by the Milanois about the yeare 1,^1 destroyed
1161. in the time of the warre betwixt them and the by the
Emperour Frederick Barbarossa. But being after reedi- Milanese.
fied by the Emperour, I have read that he once made his
aboade therein.
This is one of the three cities of Italy, that yeeldeth
such excellent butter and cheese ; the other two are
Parma and Placentia.
I rode from Lodi about foure of the clocke in the
morning, the seventeenth day of June being Friday, and
came to a towne called Pizighiton seated by the river
Abdua about one of the clocke in the afternoone. Over
this river we were ferried. Betwixt Lodi and Pizighiton p- tz zi-
it is eighteene miles. In this towne there is a faire Castle, ghettone.
wherein Francis the first of that name king of France
lived in captivity for the space of two yeares, after he
was taken prisoner by Carolus Quintus at Pavy a city
of Lombardy. I saw the tower wherein he lay, which
is on the left hand of the gate as you enter into the Castle :
in his chamber he wrote with his owne hand these wordes
in French and Spanish, which are yet to be seene. Francis
king of France. It hapned when the king lay here that
he played at tennis with a certaine Spanish Gentleman
that was his familiar friend, whom the king in the middest
255
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Foul Play, of his play strooke with a tennis ball. The Spaniard
told the king that he played foule play ; the king affirmed
the contrary, and said to the Spaniard, darest thou con-
[p. in.] tradict a king? and therewithal immediately drew his
dagger, and stabbed the Spaniard. This a certaine Italian
Gentleman called Joannes Antonius Sartorius of the
towne of Pizighiton told me, who used me exceeding
kindly, and invited me to his house, where he gave me
a cup of very neate wine. Many other memorable things
also he told me, and seemed to be an excellent Schollar.
I went from Pizighiton about foure of the clocke in
Cremona. the afternoone that day, and came to Cremona a very faire
city of Lombardy about seven of the clocke in the
evening. Betwixt Pizighiton and Cremona it is twelve
miles.
Here will I mention a thing, that although perhaps
it will seeme but frivolous to divers readers that have
already travelled in Italy ; yet because unto many that
neither have beene there, nor ever intend to go thither
while they live, it will be a meere novelty, I will not let
Fans carried it passe unmentioned. The first Italian fannes that I saw
in Italy. j n Jtaly did I observe in this space betwixt Pizighiton
and Cremona. But afterward I observed them common
in most places of Italy where I travelled. These fannes
both men and women of the country doe carry to coole
themselves withall in the time of heate, by the often
fanning of their faces. Most of them are very elegant
and pretty things. For whereas the fanne consisteth of
a painted peece of paper and a little wooden handle ; the
paper which is fastened into the top is on both sides most
curiously adorned with excellent pictures, either of
amorous things tending to dalliance, having some witty
Italian verses or fine emblemes written under them ; or
of some notable Italian city with a briefe description
thereof added thereunto. These fannes are of a meane
price. For a man may buy one of the fairest of them
for so much money as countervaileth our English groate.
Also many of them doe carry other fine things of a far
256
OBSERVATIONS OF CREMONA
greater price, that will cost at the least a duckat, which
they commonly call in the Italian tongue umbrellaes, that [p. 112-]
is, things that minister shadow unto them for shelter
against the scorching heate of the Sunne. These are
made of leather something answerable to the forme of a Umbrellas.
little cannopy, & hooped in the inside with divers little
wooden hoopes that extend the umbrella in a pretty
large compasse. They are used especially by horsemen,
who carry them in their hands when they ride, fastening
the end of the handle upon one of their thighes, and they
impart so long a shadow unto them, that it keepeth the
heate of the sunne from the upper parts of their bodies.
My Observations on Cremona.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written this decastichon upon Scaligers
Cremona. nt on
Cremona.
QUis modus esset agris, & quanta licentia frugum
Verba peregrina Gallica voce notant.
Inde solum nati laetum dixere Cremonam,
Quin Latio vox est deliciosa cremor.
Usque adeo longo reddit cum faenore tellus,
Praeteritique hornus commoda ridet ager.
Deficit & cultrum, & vomer : non deficit uber ;
Lassa manus, trita sarcula, fessa Ceres.
Reddant pensum alias : nostrse lex unica terras est
Et votum Domini, & spem superare sui.
Cremona is a very beautifull citie, seated under a very Cremona.
pleasant and holesome clymate, built with bricke, and
walled with bricke wals, wherein are five gates ; and it is
invironed with trenches and rampiers, and pleasantly
watered by the river Abdua. There is a pretty bricke
citadell at the entrance of the towne, a little without the
wall, even at the west end. It seemeth to be very
auncient, but it is exceeding low : it is guarded by a
Garison of Spaniards in the behalfe of the King of Spaine, [p. 113.]
to whom it belongeth as being a member of the Dukedom
of Milan. In the citie I saw many faire and sumptuous
c. c. 257 R
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The highest buildings, and some stately places. The principal Church
T aTltaf hath the m g hest Tower of all Italy, the foundation of
which Church was built upon the bones of Hercules as
that learned Gentleman of Pizighiton Joannes Antonius
Sartorius tolde me. For confirmation whereof hee said
there are very good authorities of learned writers. They
attribute so much to the heigth of this Tower, that of
late they have invented this proverbe in Italy : Unus
Deus in Roma, unus portus in Ancona, & una turris in
Cremona. This Tower is easily to be seene to Milan in
a cleare day, being full fiftie miles off. Howsoever the
Italians extoll it for the heigth, it is not comparable to
the steeple of our Lady Church in Sarisbury, which I take
to be at least twenty foote higher then this. And as for
the Tower of Strazbourg in Germany, that exceedeth
this in heigth, and for the curiosity of the architecture
thereof doth by many degrees excell it. There is one
very memorable thing reported of this Tower of Cremona,
that when John the two and twentieth of that name
Pope, and the Emperour Sigismundus went almost to
the toppe of the steeple to survay the countrey round
about it as from a pleasant prospect, the Governor of the
city, whose name was Gabrinus Fundulius, being then
with them intended to have throwen them downe headlong
from the Tower ; but his heart so failed him, that he
did not put the matter in execution, though he had full
opportunity to doe it. I was at the Councell house,
where I saw the principall Magistrates of the citie sit
about the publike affaires, and many of the citizens
Good Swords, assembled together. In this citie are made passing good
swords as in most places of Italy. The Augustinian
Monkes have the stateliest Library for workemanship
(as the aforesaid Sartorius told me) that is in all Italy ;
[p. 114.] therefore I went thither to see it, but because I came so
late, even about nine of the clocke at night, I had not
Frogs used for fa & opportunity to view it. I did eate fried Frogges in
this citie, which is a dish much used in many cities of
Italy : they were so curiously dressed, that they did
258
OBSERVATIONS OF CREMONA
exceedingly delight my palat, the head and the forepart
being cut off. In the suburbes of the citie without the
gate Pulesella there is a certaine Well, which when it A Monkish
had once very foule water, and unwholesome to drinke, figment.
was so purged from the impurity thereof by certaine
signes of the crosse that S. Dominicke and S. Francis
which once lived in Cremona made over it, that from
that time it was as pleasant and sweete to drinke as any
other water. This is indeed a tradition of their Monks,
& no otherwise to be beleeved then a Monkish figment.
The inhabitants of this citie sustained much damage in
the time of Augustus Caesar, because they harboured the
forces of Cassius, Brutus and Antonius. Whereupon
Augustus after he had gotten the victory of Antonius,
being grievously incensed against them of Cremona,
deprived them of their grounds, and bestowed them upon
his trained souldiers : which Virgil doth intimate when
he saith,
Mantua vae miseras nimium vicina Cremonae.
Where he complaineth of the infelicity of Mantua,
because seeing it was so neare to Cremona that had so
much offended Augustus, the Mantuans lost many of
their grounds also.
I finde in that excellent historiographer Cornelius Two
Tacitus mention of two memorable battels foughte neare memorable
this citie : whereof the first was betwixt the souldiers of att ^ s -
the Emperour Otho successor to Galba, and his adversarie
Vitellius afterward Emperour, at a place called Bebriacum
neare unto Cremona. For there in a great skirmish Otho
his captaines, who marched from Rome with the Pretorian
cohorts, overcame the Vitellians that consisted of al those
legions that fortified the frontier townes of high Germany,
situate upon the banke of the river Rhene, and some of [p. 115.]
the Netherlands. The second battell was waged a little
after Vespasian was chosen Emperour by the Roman
armie in Judea, betwixt a worthy Captaine one Antony
chief commaunder of the Roman legions in Illyricum
259
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
& Dalmatia, and the Vitellians. This battell Antony
undertooke in the behalfe of the new chosen Emperour
Vespasian ; And it was so bloudy and fierce, that of
Antonies side who got the victory, there were slaine
34,500 men foure thousand five hundred men, and at the least thirty
o / * *
thousand of the Vitellians that were conquered.
I reade also in Historians that this citie hath beene
very much damnified at two severall times : first by Attila
King of the Hunnes, who destroyed it at the same time
that he did Milan : which happened after he was over-
throwne by the famous ^Etius the generall Captaine of
the Emperour Valentinian the third, in that most
memorable battell in France, which was fought betwixt
him and the Romanes in the Catalaunicall fieldes, neare
the citie of Tholosa : Secondly by Egilolphus the fourth
King of the Longobardes.
Cremona Cremona received great losse by the Admirall of
Assaulted Fraunce in the time of Francis the French King, who
by the French, assaulted it with a greate armie of thirty thousand foot
men, and two thousand horsemen, and for the space of
three dayes grievously battered the walles : but whereas
he meant afterward to have entered the citie, there
suddenly descended such abundance of raine from heaven,
which continued for the space of foure daies, that he
raised his siege, and transferred his forces to Milan.
After which time the citizens of Cremona reedified the
walles, and made them as faire as before.
I am sory that I am so briefe in the description of
this elegant citie of Cremona. For the short time that
I spent there deprived me of the opportunity to survay
those monuments and antiquities that I understood are
[p. 1 1 6.] to be seene there, which I would most willingly have
communicated to my countrey. But what is now
wanting I hope shall be hereafter supplied : And so I
conclude this short history of Cremona, with mention of
the Prince of the Latin Poets, famous Virgil, whom in
my youth I reverenced as my master : and therefore I
will ever till the fatall day of my life honour the memorie
260
OBSERVATIONS OF CREMONA
of that incomparable man. In this city did that famous
Poet consecrate himselfe to the Muses, and spent some
time in the study of good letters, according as hee did
in Milan, as I have before mentioned.
Thus much of Cremona.
I Rode from Cremona about five of the clock in the A pox-house.
morning the eighteenth day of June being Saturday,
and came to a solitary post-house twenty miles off, by a
little brooke side about noone. The first wheat that I
saw cut this yeare was at that postehouse, which was
about sixe weekes sooner then we use to cut our wheat
in England. For the space of seven or eight miles before
I came to Mantua I saw so much wheat cut in al the
countrey, that there was little or none standing upon the
ground, and in most places it was cleane carried away
out of the fields.
I rode from the poste-house about two of the clocke
in the afternoone, and came to Mantua, which was twenty
miles beyond it, about halfe an houre after seven of the
clocke in the evening.
About some twelve miles before I came to Mantua, Mlrandula.
I passed through Mirandula, which is the towne where
that famous and learned Earle Joannes Picus, the mirrour
of his time, and the Phoenix of Italy was borne, and
whereof he was Earle. It is a pretty little towne, adorned
with many faire buildings : both before we came into the
towne, and after we had passed it there were two or three [p. 117.]
very faire greene wayes of more then a mile long, being
set on both sides with abundance of Apple and Poplar
trees, which made a faire shew. I observed this towne
Mirandula to be very desolate and unpeopled : the reason
is, because the Bandits, which are the murdering robbers Murdering
upon the Alpes, and many places of Italy, make their Robbers.
aboad in it as it were their safe Sanctuary and refuge,
where they live in the castle of the towne : who because
they doe oftentimes violently breake out upon the towns
men and other passengers, depriving them both of life
261
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
and goods, they minister such occasion of feare to the
inhabitants, that there dwell but few people in the towne.
About half a mile on this side Mantua there is a
very faire Nunnery : and hard without the wals of the
Great Store of citie at the west end, there groweth the greatest store of
Flags. flagges, in a marish soile on both sides of the way that
ever I saw before.
Seafiger s
Venes on
Mantua.
My Observations of Mantua.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written these verses upon
Mantua.
MAxima cum veteri turgeret Hetruria regno,
Sceptraque terrarum jungeret aucta mari :
Mole nova tumuit, soliisque excrevit avitis,
Ut premeret forti jura aliena pede.
Inde est in superas deducta Colonia terras :
Non tamen his potuit Mantua tota dari.
Clara viris, felix Ducibus, divo inclyta cycno,
Quern vitreis aluit Mincius Andis aquis.
Mantua dives avis, magno non cesserit orbi,
Tota tamen parte hac vincitur ipsa sui.
The Citie of Mantua I take to be one of the auncientest
cities of Italy, auncienter then Rome by foure hundred
and thirty yeares. For that was built but seven hundred
fiftie three yeares before Christ, as Funccius, Carion,
Chytraeus and most of the best Chronologers doe record.
Mantua built But this was built one thousand, one hundred and eighty
nSo B.C. yeares before Christ, as the Historiographers do report,
which was some few yeares before the beginning of the
Trojan warres : it was founded by one Ocnus Bianor an
ancient King of the Hetruscans, who was the sonne of
a certaine Propheticall woman borne in the Bceoticall
Thebes called Manto, from whose name he called the
citie, not from his owne, as that famous Poet * Virgil in
the honour of his countrey writeth, whose verses are these :
[p. 1 1 8.]
262
OBSERVATIONS OF MANTUA
Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris
Fatidicae Mautus & Tusci filius amnis, verses.
Qui muros matrisque dedit tibi Mantua nomen.
Mantua dives avis, sed non genus omnibus unum,
Gens illi triplex, populi sub gente quaterni,
Ipsa caput populis, Tusco de sanguine vires.
Whereas he saith Gens illi triplex, it seemeth something
hard to be understood without the true knowledge of
the History, which according to the interpretation of
a certaine elegant author that I found in Italy, I take to
be this. This citie was first composed of three severall Three peopl
people, namely the Tuscians from whom Ocnus Bianor tn Mantua.
was descended, being the sonne of Tiberinus that was
King of the Tuscians ; the Thebanes wherehence his
mother the Prophetesse Manto came ; and the Veneti
alias Eneti sprung from the Paphlagones, of whom Livie
writeth about the beginning of the first booke of his first
Decad. And whereas he saith Populi sub gente quaterni,
he meaneth that the whole people being divided into
certaine tribes, each tribe was againe subdivided into
foure parts.
Truely it is neither the long genealogie of the Tuscan [p. 119.]
Kings, nor the magnificence of the ancient buildings nor
the sweetnesse of the situation, nor any other ornament
whatsoever that hath halfe so much enobled this delicate
Citie, as the birth of that peerelesse and incomparable
Poet Virgil, in respect of whom the Mantuans have
reason to bee as proude as the Colophonians or Mantua.
Smyrnians in Greece were of their Homer. I saw
indeed the statue of Virgil made in stone as farre as the
girdle, which was erected in one of their market places,
but had I not beene brought into such a narrow compasse
of time (for I came into the Citie about half an houre
after seven of the clocke in the evening, and rode there-
hence about eight of the clocke the next morning) I would
have scene the house at a place called Andes, a little mile
from Mantua, wherein he .was borne and lived. For the
263
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
ruins thereof are yet shewed to the immortal glory of the
Mantuans.
This Citie is marvellous strong, and walled round about
with faire bricke wals, wherein there are eight gates, and
is thought to be foure miles in compasse : the buildings
Sumptuous both publique and private are very sumptuous and
Buildings, magnificent : their streets straite and very spacious. Also
I saw many stately Pallaces of a goodly height : it is most
sweetly seated in respect of the marvailous sweete ayre
thereof, the abundance of goodly meadows, pastures,
vineyards, orchards, and gardens about it. For they have
such store of gardens about the Citie, that I thinke London
which both for frequencie of people, and multitude of
howses doth thrise exceed it, is not better furnished with
gardens. Besides they have one more commoditie which
maketh the Citie exceeding pleasant even the fair river
Mincius that floweth out of the noble Lake Benacus,
of which Virgil speaketh.
Hie viridis tenera praetexit arundine ripas
Mincius, &c.*
[p. izo.] Withall they have abundance of delectable fruites
Delectable growing about the Citie, whereof I saw great variety in
Fruits. the market place the Sunday morning when I departed
therehence, and no small diversity of odoriferous flowers.
Truely the view of this most sweet Paradise, this
domicilium Venerum & Charitum did even so ravish my
senses, and tickle my spirits with such inward delight,
that I said unto my selfe, this is the Citie which of all
other places in the world, I would wish to make my
habitation in, and spend the remainder of my dayes in
some divine Meditations amongst the sacred Muses, were
it not for their grosse idolatry and superstitious ceremonies
which I detest, and the love of Odcombe in Somersetshire,
which is so deare unto me that I preferre the very smoke
thereof before the fire of all other places under the Sunne.
* Georgi. 4.
264
OBSERVATIONS OF MANTUA
The Palace of the present Duke of Mantua, whose The Palace.
name is Vincentius Gonzaga, is very neare to the
principall Church which is dedicated to Saint Barbara,
being right opposite unto it on the right hand as you
go to the Church from the towne : it is a very ancient
and faire building, having two gates to enter two severall
courts which are kept by a guard of Switzers. One of
these gates which was made against the marriage of the
yong Prince of Mantua, Francis Gonzaga (whereof I
have spoken before in my discourse of Turin) is very
new, and a most magnificent and stately worke, made all
of white stone, wherein the Dukes arms are most
exquisitely wrought in gold with a coronet on the top
thereof. Also there are three statues very curiously Three Statues
pourtrayed in white stone upon the toppe of this gate,
with white mantles about them, under whom this poesie
is written in azure, in capital Roman letters.
His ego nee metas rerum, nee tempora pono.
Which verse is taken out of the first ^neid of Virgil,
and in my opinion very proudly applyed. For Virgil
applyed it only to Augustus, (in whose time hee wrote it) [p- 121.]
and his succeeding Emperours of Rome, and that by way ^ tr S^P
of adulation, meaning that there should be no limitation l
either of the bounds of their Empire, in regard it should
be extended to the uttermost confines of the habitable
world ; or of the time of their imperiall glory, but should
bee immortall and last for ever. But the Duke of Mantua
his territory is bounded within those narrow confines that
I do not see how he can justifie the application of that
verse to himselfe. At the left hand as you go into the
gate, there is another statue of a woman in white stone,
over whose head this verse of Virgil is written in Azure.
Aggredere O magnos-, aderit jam tempus, honores.
Likewise at the toppe of the other statue on the right
hand this verse is written :
Spondeo digna tuis in gentibus omnia caeptis.
265
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Church of S. The Church of Saint Barbara which is the fairest of the
Citie, is but meane without, being built all with bricke,
but within it is very exceeding beautifull having many
faire roofes in it, especially that of the body of the Church
which is imbossed with goodly bosses of gold, as faire
as any I saw till that time, saving the roofe of the
Augustinian Monkes Church in Milan. In one side of
this Church I saw this written in faire Roman letters.
Pius Secundus Anno Dom. 1478. Mantuae Synodum
generalem celebravit, ut Christianorum Principum animos
ad terrae sanctae expugnationen induceret. This Pius
Secundus was that learned Pope which before he under-
jEneas tooke the Papacy was called ^neas Sylvius the author of
Silvius. t h at mO st memorable distiche :
Non audet Stygius Pluto tentare quod audent
effraenis Monachus, plenaque fraudis anus.
I saw a very goodly walke in Mantua roofed over and
supported with thirty nine faire pillars of freestone ; some
[p. 122.] few such other walkes I saw in some places of the Citie
which seemed unto me a great noveltie, but when I came
afterward to Padua, it was nothing strange to me. For
there I saw an hundred such walkes, insomuch that there
is no streete in the whole citie but hath those kind of
walkes adjoyning to the houses of the Citizens.
A bridge of j observed a very stately bricke bridge at Mantua over
the river Mincius, the longest that ever I saw till then
(saving our famous bridge of London) which is covered
and fairely vaulted over head, and inclosed with two faire
bricke walls by the sides that are extended in length as
farre as the bridge, in each of which wals there are many
open places to looke forth into the Mincius insteed of
windowes.
Country \ observed a great multitude of country clownes that
came the Sunday morning to Mantua that I was there,
with strawen hats and feathers in them, and every one
had his sithe and hooke in his hand ; belike they came
to put themselves out to hire for harvest worke.
266
OBSERVATIONS OF MANTUA
The first Mountebanke that ever I saw, was at Mantua A Mounte-
the eighteenth day of June, being Saturday, where he bank -
played his part upon a scaffold. Of these Mounte-
bankes I will write more at large in my observations of
Venice.
Over the gate of the Franciscans Church is to be seen
the true statue of that famous Poet and Orator Baptista
Mantuanus a Carmelite Frier borne in this Citie, who
flourished Anno 1496.
This City did once feele the smart of that cruell AttilaKing
Hunnical King Attila his force, who miserably wasted it the Huns -
together with many other Italian Cities, as I have already
mentioned in my description of some of them, and shall
againe hereafter in more. Also many yeares after that
time Egilolphus one of the Longobardical Kings did some
hurt unto this City, though not so much as Attila. For
when he invaded it, the cittizens submitting themselves
into his handes, he satisfied his fury only with throwing [p. 123.]
downe the wals round about the city. Againe it was
taken by force of armes above foure hundred years after
that, by the Emperour Henry the fourth. Here died
the Emperour Carolus Calvus of a fluxe of the belly, or
rather with poison (as some thinke) that was given him
by a certaine Jewish Physitian called Zedechias, whom Zedechias
he loved very intirely, in the yeare of our Lord 872, of a Jewish
his raigne of France the sixe and thirtieth, of his Empire p fy slctan -
the second. This hapned shortly after his battell at
Verona with his Nephewes Caroloman and Charles the
second sirnamed the Bald, as I will hereafter declare in
my description of that City. But whereas the French
Nobles that were with him at his death meant to have
carry ed his body forthwith into France, and to have
interred it there, they were constrained to bury it by
the way, by reason of the blasting thereof in the City
of Vercellis, after they had bowelled and embalmed it.
And therehence it was afterward brought into France,
where they finally buried it in the Abbey of St. Denis
amongst the French kings, as I have before mentioned.
267
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
About five miles from Mantua in a Church dedicated
to our Lady, which is seated upon a hill, there is to be
scene the Tombe of another worthy Poet and Orator
Balthasar borne in Mantua Balthasar Castilion, that wrote that most
CastigRtme. elegant booke of the Courtier, and nourished Anno 1529.
Thus much of Mantua.
I
Departed from Mantua about eight of the clock in
the morning on Sunday being the nineteenth day of
Sangona. June, and came to a place called Sangona twenty miles
beyond it (where I dined) about one of the clocke. At
our Inne in Sangona I noted such exceeding abundance
of flies, that they had wooden flaps to beate them away,
[p. 124.] such as we call in Latin muscaria. For no sooner could
a dish of meate be laid upon the table, but there would
A plague of incontinently be a thousand flies in it, were it not for
files. those flaps. I told my fellow travellers at dinner, that if
the Emperour Domitian had beene now alive, and in that
roome with us, he would have done us some pleasure
in driving away those flies. For indeede Suetonius doth
write in his life that about the beginning of his Empire
he would sometimes spend a whole houre alone by
himselfe every day, in some private roome of his Palace
in catching of flies.
I observed one thing in the Dukedome of Mantua,
and some other places of Italy, that I never saw in any
country before, that within a short space after they had
Two crops of carryed away their corne out of the field, about some
foure and twenty houres or such a matter, they turned
in their stubble to sow another croppe of wheate in the
same place. Also I saw a great deal of wheate sowen
in the Dukedome of Mantua by the nineteenth day of
June, and some greene wheate, which is almost a quarter
of a yeare sooner then we have greene wheate in England.
I saw a wondrous abundance of mulbery trees in many
places of Italy, which have but little leaves left upon
them, by reason that the first leaves are cropped off to
feede the silke wormes withall. Also in many places
268
OBSERVATIONS OF LINIAGO
both of the Dukedome of Mantua and elsewhere, I saw
great store of Rice growing.
I went from Sangona about three of the clocke in the LaBevelaqua.
afternoone, and came to a place called la Bevelaqua, which
is a parish in the Signiory of Venice, about eight of the
clocke in the evening. Betwixt Sangona and la Bevelaqua
is fourteene miles.
I came to a faire Towne about some five miles on this Liniago a fair
side la Bevelaqua called Liniago, which belongeth to the tov)n -
Signiory of Venice, and it was the first towne that I r -i
entred of the Venetian State. It is a faire walled towne,
where I first saw the winged Lyon, which is the armes
of Venice, gallantly displayed in the wals. There lived
a Governour or Prefect of the Venetians, whose warrant
we had before we could get forth of the towne. In
many places of the wals I read this verse, written in faire
Roman letters :
Hinc abes, at tua non absunt celeberrima facta.
By which wordes I understood some worthy Duke or
Patritian of Venice that had beene some benefactor to
the Towne.
I went from la Bevelaqua about sixe of the clocke in
the morning, the twentieth day of June being Munday,
and came to a towne in the Signiory of Venice called E$te.
Este, which was twelve miles beyond it about eleven of
the clocke. From this towne the Duke of Ferrara
derived the denomination of his family. I rode from
Este about two of the clocke in the afternoone, and came
to Padua, which is fifteen miles distant from it, about
seven of the clocke in the evening. All the way betwixt
Este and Padua I passed hard by the banke of the river
Brenta, leaving it on the left hand. On both sides of
this river I saw many pleasant and delectable Palaces and
banqueting houses, which serve for houses of retraite for
the Gentlemen of Venice and Padua, wherein they solace
themselves in the Sommer.
269
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Scaliger s
Verses on
Padua.
[p. 126.]
Five market
places.
Padua built by
Anterior.
My Observations of Padua.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written this Decastichon upon
Padua.
HUc antiqua Deum domus Ilium, & inclyta bello
Robora Dardanios exposuere lares :
Decepti, patrias, non victi, amisimus oras,
Perpetuis, res est Graeca, valere dolis.
Qui vicere, suos ideo amisere penates :
Ast nova sunt profugis regna parata viris.
Arma decent Teucros, vafros sapientia Graios :
Victis Euganeis pectus utrumque dedi.
Regna vides Veneto Phrygiis majora minis,
Atticaque a Patavo pectore terra capit.
This City is seated on a very fertile and spacious plaine
that affoordeth all manner of commodities, both for corne,
vines, and fruits, necessary for mans sustentation. It
hath the river Brenta, heretofore called Meduacus or
Medoacus, running by it, and is environed with three
strong wals that have five gates in them, and is said to
be seven miles in compasse. It hath five market places
that are continually exceeding well furnished with all
manner of necessary things. Many faire stony bridges.
It is of a round forme like Paris. The name of Padua
is derived from the river Padus (as some thinke) which
is not farre from it, and it is otherwise called Patavium
quasi Padavium. This City may compare with any City
of all Italy for antiquity, saving three, Ravenna, Volaterra
in Hetruria, and Mantua. For it was built by Antenor,
a famous Trojan, within a few yeares after the beginning
of the warres betwixt the Grecians and the Trojans, and
from him it was first called Antenorea. There is mention
of this Antenor in many very auncient Authors, as in
Homer in his Iliads, Dares Phrygius, and Dictys Cretensis.
Also Virgil maketh mention of his flight from Troy and
the warres there, and of his arrivall in these Westerne
parts of the world, in his first
270
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
Anterior potuit mediis elapsus Achivis
Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque ultima tutus
Regna Liburnorum, & fontem superare Timavi.
Unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure mentis
It mare praeruptum, & pelago premit arva sonanti. [p- 127-]
Hie tamen ille urbem Patavi, sedesque locavit
Teucrorum, & genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit
Troja, nunc placida compostus pace quiescit.
His monument for the greater grace and ornament of
the City is erected publiquely in a streete, and exposed
to the sight of every man to behold, even in the corner
of a street neare to the Church of the Franciscan Friers.
The tombe wherein his bones lie is made of marble, and Tomb of
supported with foure little marble pillers ; a little without Antenor.
it are foure very high marble pillers more, which sustaine
a very lofty vault that is made over his monument. On
the Tombe which containeth his bones there is written a
Tetrastich Epitaphe in Latin for many yeares since, which
by reason of the antiquity of the Character is not to be
read without difficulty. But by the helpe of a certaine
Italian Gentleman that assisted me, a Student of Padua,
and a most excellent Scholler for the three principal!
languages, Hebrew, Greeke, and Latin, one Signior
Paulo ^Emylio Musto, borne in the City of Vicenza, I
did prety well picke out the sense of the Epitaphe, though
indeede in the first verse there are those wordes, that as
the same Paulo ^mylio told me, few or none of the
learnedst Schollars that come to the University can under- His Epitaph.
stand. The Epitaphe is this :
Inclytus Antenor patriam vox nisa quietem
transtulit hue Enetos, Dardanidumque fugam.
Expulit Euganeos, Patavinam condidit urbem,
quern tenet hie tumuli marmore caesa domus.
The wordes wherein the difficulty consisteth are these two,
vox nisa, why vox should be the nominative case, what
verbe is understood, and what is meant by nisa.
But seing I have taken some occasion to glance at
271
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Signior Paulo ^Emylio, I will a little digresse from my
maine discourse of Padua, and obiter speake something
of him. Truly I perceived him to be an excellent
Scholler, a very eloquent discourser in the Latin, a fine
[p. 128.] Grecian, a good Poet both for Greeke and Latin verse,
and he is esteemed in the University no meane Hebrician.
Paulo Emilia p or h e studied the Hebrew tongue very diligently to the
"scholar end to discourse with the learned Rabbins of the Jewes,
whereof there are many commorant in this City, and he
doth often so earnestly dispute with them, that he hath
converted some of them to Christianity, as he himselfe
told me. Besides he shewed himselfe very affable and
courteous towards me, and desirous to embrace my
friendship. For confirmation whereof he sent me these
sixe Greeke verses from Padua to Venice, as a pledge
of his love to me.
Hv TVKI-^TI (piXitj, oj iravTcw (pepTaTe a
Te-^viKr) a\\a. /mevei eV (ppecriv *i/u.Tepai?.
T7 Tvvrj tjv (biXit] u> JLvpte, ecra-eTai a
Trj Te-^vtj ^fA.uiv a(f)6iTO$
He TV-^JJ <pi\irj, o> ILvpie
jj/xereoat? aei C^creTat ev
He saith our friendship was TV^IK^ that is, accidentall,
because our first acquaintance grew by chaunce in a
bookebinders shop of Padua. These verses were inclosed
in a letter that one M. George Rooke a Kentish Gentle
man, one of principall favourites of that honourable
Sir Henry Gentleman Sir Henry Wotton our Kings Lidger
Ambassador in Venice, and a worthy traveller (with
whom Signior Paulo was well acquainted) sent unto me
to Venice with this merry inscription. To the English
Gentleman that converteth Jewes, &c. in Venice. The
history of which my conversion of the Jewes (being
indeede rather a disputation with them, then a conversion
of them, which I much both desired and endeavoured)
I will relate in my observations of Venice. This Gentle
man M. George Rooke used me so kindly both in Venice
272
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
and Padua, that he hath perpetually bound me unto him
in a very Gordian knot of friendship. Thus farre I
thought good to make a digression from my description [p. 129.]
of Padua for the memory sake of my two kinde and
worthy friends Signior Paulo JEmylio, and M. George
Rooke.
This citie was heretofore very faithfull to the citie of Padua
Rome in time of warre, helping it both with money and f a ^fal to
men : wherefore the Romanes to gratifie them for their
kindnesse, priviledged them with such a favour as none
of their Colonies had the like, that the Patavines should
give their suffrages in the election of the Romane
Magistrates as farre forth as any of the Romane Gentle
men themselves.
Attila King of the Hunnes, when he came out of
Pannonia into Italy, with an exceeding huge armie, Anno
457. and in the third yeare of the Emperour Martianus,
was the first that sacked it, which was againe very well
repaired by Narses the Eunuch, one of the three valiant
Captaines of Justinian the first about the yeare 550.
About one hundred and eighty yeares after that time
Egilolphus the fourth King of the Longobardes wasted Padua wasted
it with most extreme cruelty. And whereas after hee had ^ ^
burnt some part of it, the citizens yeelded themselves
into his handes, hoping that we would have saved the
rest : the barbarous tyrant though he spared the lives of
the inhabitants, was so furiously enraged against the citie
it selfe that he consumed with the mercilesse force of the
fire almost all the rest of the buildings that remained in
the citie. Then it was reedified by Charlemaine about
the yeare 774. From that time it enjoyed peace for the
space of almost foure hundred yeares, till the time of
Fridericus Barbarossa, who oppugned it with great fury, Frederick
and defaced a great part of it about the yeare 1 1 70. After Barbarossa.
that it was swayed for the space of many yeares by the
Carrarians, who drew their originall from Bassanum a
towne about the Alpes not farre from Trent, till at last
the tyrant Ezzelinus chaced them out of the city. Much
c. c. 273 s
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
cruelty did the Patavines suffer in this mans daies. For
there is a Tower shewed in Padua to this day, wherein
[p- !3-] they were imprisoned, tormented and cruelly slaine ; so
great was the tyranny that he exercised upon them. But
about the yeare of our Lord 1402, it was alienated from
their government, and added to the Dominion of the
Padua subject Venetians by Gattamelita that famous Captaine of Narnia
to Venice. a f a j re c j t j e o f U m t>ria in Italy, in which was borne also
Cocceius Nerva the thirteenth Emperour of Rome, who
succeeded Domitian : ever since his time it hath been
subject to the Signiorie of Venice, and so continueth to
this day.
The Euganean hils, which are but a little way distant
from the west part of the citie, were heretofore by Martial
and Catullus esteemed the very receptacle and habitation
of the Muses ; and Constantine Palealogus the last
Christian Emperour of Constantinople, who then raigned
when the citie was taken by the cruell Turkes, anno
1453, was wont to say, that except hee had read in the
workes of holy and learned writers, whom he could not
A Paradise, but believe, that Paradise had beene seated in the East ;
he would otherwise thinke it could not be in any other
place of the world but only in Padua. For indeede it is as
sweetly seated as any place of the whole world is or can be.
The Palace, in Latin Praetorium, which serveth for the
Patavines as their Councell house, or as our Westminster
hall doth us, for their publique Assemblies, and for the
hearing and determining of controversies, is (in my
The Palace, opinion) the fairest of all Christendome, at the least
the fairest by many degrees that ever I saw. It
chanced to be burned for many yeares since, but it was
farre more magnificently reedified by the Venetians in the
yeare 1420, after it had layne wast two hundred yeares.
The roofe of it is covered with lead, having neyther
pillars nor beames to support it ; onely it hath certaine
curious and pretty little round pillars in the inside of the
hall, made eyther of latten or rather brasse as I take it,
[p. 131.] no bigger then a man may compasse with both his hands
274
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
which from that part of the hall which is immediately
above the higher part of the wall directly up to the top
of the roofe, are placed athwart from one wall to another,
being joyned to the roofe by the like little latten or brasse Many Pillars
pillars, but much lesse, whereof each that goeth athwart,
hath two reaching directly to the main roofe. Of those
greater transverse pillars there are thirteene, and three
besides at the ends of the Palace, whereof two are at the
two corners of the west end, and the third at one of the
corners of the east end ; so that of all these round pillars
great and little there are forty two. All the walles within
are most exquisitely painted with many curious pictures
that expresse divers auncient Histories. The Palace is
within the wals a hundred and tenne paces long, and forty
broad. Besides there are two faire galleries to walke in Fair
on both sides of the Palace without the wall, whereof Galleries.
each is supported with twenty five pillars of white free
stone. Also for the better gracing of this most magni
ficent building, there are erected sixe statues in severall
places, of worthy men that have much honoured this city,
whereof three are of that famous Historian Titus Livius, Statues to
who was borne and brought up in Padua : the other Livy.
three of other worthy Patavins. At the east end of the
Palace is erected the first of Livies statues directly over
the Tribunall seate about the midst of the wall : he is
pourtrayed with a white mantle before his breast, and
that no farther then to the middle. One thing I observed
both in that and other statues in Padua, and afterward in
Venice, that they doe not so fully represent the fore parts Strange
of a mans body as we doe in England, and as it is used Statuary.
elsewhere. For they descend aslope from under their
armes to the middle point of their middle, not setting
forth the ribbes at large, but doe in a manner exclude
them out of the statue. He is represented according to
his olde age. For his face is made very leane and shaved : [p. 132.]
directly under the statue this inscription is made in a
little white stone, according to an auncient forme, T. Liv,
and under the same this :
275
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
VE
T. LIVIVS
LIVI^E T. F.
QVARTAEL.
HALTS
CONCORDIALIS
PATAVI
SIBI ET SVIS
OMNIBVS.
A she wolf. Directly under this inscription the effigies of a shee
wolfe is cut very curiously in a blacke stone, with
Romulus and Remus sucking at her teates : and under
neath the same these Latin verses are engraved in a blacke
stone, with the armes of the Praetor on the left hand of
the same, and of the Prsefectus on the right hand.
Ossa tuumque caput, cives, tibi, maxime Livi,
prompto animo hie omnes composuere tui.
Tu famam aeternam Romae, patriaeque dedisti,
huic oriens, illi fortia facta canens.
At tibi dat patria haec, & si majora liceret,
hoc totus stares aureus ipse loco.
Under these verses this is cut in the same stone,
T. Livius 4. Imperil Tiberii Cassaris anno
vita excessit, aetatis vero suse 76.
Againe on the left hand of the same blacke stone is cut
[p. 133.] the Scutchin or Armes of him that was Praetor when this
was done, and on the right hand the armes of the Prae-
fectus. Under all this the yeare of our Lord is expressed,
1547, for that yeare were his bones placed in that roome.
On the right hand of the monument, a little without the
stone is painted the face of Augustus with these words
round about it : Divus Augustus pater patriae. On the
left hand the face of Tiberius, with these words about
it, Ti. Caesar Augusti films.
On the right hand of Livies monument, a little way
off, I read this inscription in a peece of stone in the
276
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
inside of the Palace wall, directly over the linterne of Inscription on
wall.
M.
the dore ; Inclyto Alphonso Arragonum Regi, studiorum the Palace
fautori, Reipub. Venetae faederato, Antonio Panormitano
Poeta Legato suo orante, & Matthaeo Victurio hujus urbis
Praetore constantissime intercedente, ex historiarum
Parentis Titi Livii ossibus, quae hoc tumulo conduntur,
Patavini cives brachium in munus concessere. Anno
Christi M.CCCC li. xiiii. K. f Septembris.
This inscription, I say, is in the inside of the Pallace
wall over the linterne of the dore, but in the outside
of the wall on the other side of the linterne this Epitaph
following is written in a very ancient character which a Ancient
man can very hardly read, so that I was holpen by a Characters.
learned French Gentleman before I could perfectly under
stand it. Above which Epitaph there is erected a second
statue of Livie made in freestone which seemeth to
represent the life of him, and to be at the least one
thousand yeares elder then the first which is erected over
the tribunall seate : In the same statue the full and whole The Second
proportion of the forepart of his body as far as his middle Statue toLivy.
is very lively presented with a kind of attire upon his
head, pretily wrapped together, which hee wore in steed
of a hat. In the fore part of his garment which covered
his breast he wore pretie tassels insteed of buttons, like
to those that our English Souldiers do weare about their
bandeleers, in which they put their gunnepowder. These [p. 134.]
tassels came downe athwart over his breast ; truly I did
inwardly rejoyce to see this pourtraiture. For the
antiquity of it did confirme a confident perswasion in
me that it was the true effigies and resemblance of his
living forme. The Epitaph which was under written, Livy s
was this: ~ Epitaph.\l\
Ossa
T. Livii Patavini, unius omnium mortalium judicio
digni cujus prope invicto calamo invicti P.R.
res gestae conscriberentur.
It is thought that this ancient Epitaph together with the
statue was translated thither from Saint Justinaes Church,
277
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
which in time of Paganisme before Christian religion was
planted there, was the Temple of Juno.
The Third Also there is a third statue of Livie erected in one of
Statue to Livy. t ^ e p a j ace wa } s over tne Hnterne of one of those dores,
which is in the South side of the Palace in the outside of
the wall even in the gallery. There he is pourtrayed in
white stone as before, according to his youthfull visage
without a beard, wearing a gowne, and a prety loose
mantle over his head, his deske with a vice turning in it,
and his bookes under it, stroaking his chinne with his
right hand, and his left hand on his booke. This statue
was erected Anno 1565, at what time for the better
ornament of the Pallace three statues more of other
famous Patavines were erected in the outside of the wals
in the gallery, one in the same side where this statue of
Livie is, and two more in the North wall opposite to it.
The inscription under this statue of Livie is this : T.
Livius Patavinus Historicorum Latini nominis facile
Princeps, cui 9 lacteam eloquentiam aetas ilia, quae virtute
pariter ac eruditione florebat, adeo admirata est, ut multi
Romam non ut urbem pulcherrimam, aut urbis & orbis
Dominum Octavianum, sed ut hunc unum inviserent,
audirentque, a Gadibus profecti sunt. Hie res omnes
quas populus Romanus pace belloque gessit, 14. Decadibus
mira styli felicitate complexus, sibi ac patriae gloriam
peperit sempiternam.
[p. 135.] On the left hand of the first statue of Livie, which is
set up at the East end of the hall above the tribunall seate
there is erected a pretty convenient distance from it, the
Statue of a statue of a very grave and reverend olde gentleman in
gentleman. passing faire white stone, which is made almost to the
middle in the same manner as Livies statue neare to it.
The same is garnished with faire pillars of white stone
in both sides of it ; at the front of the monument above
his statue this Greeke verse is written in a peece of
Touchstone.
voeeiv,
278
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
The Greeke is false, for it should not be "Jcrw but ra.
Under his pourtraiture this Latin Epitaph is written in
a square peece of white stone inserted into a peece of
jet. Sperono Speronio sapientiss. eloquentissimo, optimo
& viro & civi virtutem meritaque acta vita, sapientiam,
eloquentiam declarant scripta. Under that this is written,
Publico decreto urbis quatuorviri P. againe, this under
that, Anno a Christo nato M.D.XCIIII. ab urbe condita
M.M.DCCXII. last of all is written, Ant. Sardius, sculp.
Pat. faciebat. In the South side of the Pallace wall in
the outside there is erected about thirty five paces distance
from Livies statue, a fair pourtraiture in white stone of Statue of
one Albertus with a Bible in his hand formed of the same -Albert.
stone, in one side whereof I reade this : Beati qui custo-
diunt judicium, & faciunt justitiam in omni tempore.
Under his pourtraiture this is written in faire Roman
letters : Albertus pater Eremitanae religionis splendor,
continentissimae vitae, sumpta Parisiis insula magistrali,
in Theologia tantum profecit & profuit, ut Paulum,
Mosen, Evangelia, ac libros Sententiarum laudatissime
exposuerit, facundissimus eo tempore concionator, immor-
tali memorioe optimo jure datur.
In the North side of the Pallace wall in the outside
thereof right over the linterne of the dore there is erected
in white stone the statue of one Paulus a civill Lawyer
to the middle, with a civill Law booke in each of his
hands, and under the same this inscription. [p. 136.]
Paulus Patavinus Jurisconsultorum clarissmus hujus
urbis decus aeternum, Alexandri Mammeae temporibus
floruit, ad Praeturam, Praefecturam, Consulatumque Statue of Pau
evectus, cujusque sapientiam tanti fecit Justinianus a
Imperator, ut nulla civilis juris particula hujus legibus
non decoretur, qui splendore famae immortalis oculis
posteritatis admirandus, insigni imagine hie merito
decoratur : This statue is opposite to that of Albertus.
In the same side of the Pallace wall in the outside
thereof, right over the linterne of the dore, there is
erected by as great a distance from Paulus as in the South
279
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Petrus side Albertus from Livie, the statue of one Petrus Aponus
Aponus. w [fa a booke in his hand ; he was called Aponus from a
towne within five miles of Padua called Aponum where
there are most excellent bathes. Under this statue this
elogium is written : Petrus Aponus Pater Philosophise
medicinaeque scientissimus, ob idque Conciliatoris nomen
adeptus, astrologiae vero adeo peritus, ut in magiae
suspicionem incident, falsoque de haeresi postulatus, abso-
lutus fuerit.
Gesnerus in his Bibliotheca saith that this Petrus
Aponus was called Conciliator, oblibrum ab eo scriptum,
in quo veterum prsecepta medicorum simul connectit atque
conciliat : this statue is opposite to that of Livie.
All these foure stately statues erected over so many
severall faire gates for the ornament of the Praetorium
were made in one and the selfe same year : even Anno
Dom. 1565.
At the West end of the hall neare to one of the
A Merry corners there is a very mery spectacle to be seene : there
Spectacle, standeth a round stone of some three foote high inserted
into the floore, on the which if any banckerout doth sit
with his naked buttocks three times in some public
assembly, all his debts are ipso facto remited. Round
about the stone are written these wordes in capitall letters.
Lapis vituperii & cessationis bonorum. I beleeve this
to be true, because many in the Citie reported it unto
[p. 137.] me. But belike there is a limitation of the summe that
is owed ; so that if the summe which the debter oweth
be above the stint, he shall not be released : otherwise it
were great un justice of the Venetians to tollerate such
A great a custome that honest creditors should be cousened and
injustice, defrauded of the summe of thirty or forty thousand
duckats by the impudent behaviour of some abject-
minded varlet, who to acquit himselfe of his debt will
most willingly expose his bare buttockes in that opprobi-
ous and ignominious manner to the laughter of every
spectator. Surely it is the strangest custome that ever
I heard or read off, (though that which I have related
280
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
of it be the very naked truth) whereof if some of our
English bankrouts should have intelligence, I thinke they English
would hartily wish the like might be in force in England. Banliru P ts -
For if such a custome were used with us, there is no
doubt but that there would be more naked buttocks
shewed in the term time before the greatest Nobility
and Judges of our land in Westminster hall, then are of
young punies in any Grammar Schoole of England to
their Plagosi Orbilii, that is, their whipping and severely-
censuring Schoole-masters.
Thus much of the Pallace.
Amongst many other very worthy monuments and
antiquities that I saw in Padua, the house of Titus Livius Livy s House.
was not the meanest. For had it beene much worse
then it was, I should have esteemed it pretious, because
it bred that man whom I doe as much esteeme, and whose
memory I as greatly honour as any Ethnick Historio
grapher whatsoever, either Greeke or Latin ; having
sometimes heretofore in my youth not a little recreated
myselfe with the reading of his learned and plausible
histories. But seeing I now enter into some discourse
of Livies house, me thinks I heare some carping criticke
object unto me, that I doe in this one point play the
part of a traveller, that is, I tell a lye, for how is it possible [p. 138.]
(perhaps he will say) that Livies house should stand to
this day, since that yourselfe before have written that
Padua hath beene eftsoones sacked, and consumed with
fire? how cometh it to passe that Livies house should
be more priviledged from the fury of the fire, then other
O t J
private houses of the City ? I answer thee that it is very
probable, this building whereof I now speake, may be
the very house of Livie himselfe, notwithstanding that
Padua hath beene often razed and fired. First, for that
the very antiquity of the structure doth signifie it is very
ancient. For I observed no house whatsoever in all
Padua that may compare with it for antiquity. Secondly,
because I perceived that it is a received opinion of the
281
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Opinion of Citizens of Padua, and the learned men of the University
learned men. ^ Liyie ^^ therein. Thirdly, for that I am per-
swaded that the most barbarous people that ever wasted
Padua, as the Hunnes and Longobardes, were not so
voide of humanity, but that in the very middest of their
depopulating and firing of the City, they would endevour
to spare the house of Livie (at the least if they knew
which was his) and to preserve it to posterity for a
monument of so famous a man. Even as we reade that
Alexander the Great when he destroyed the Citie of
Thebes in Boeotia, saved the house of that incomparable
Poet Pindarus, for the reverence that he bore to so learned
a man. Wherefore, hoping that I have by these reasons
in some sort satisfied the doubtful reader, I will descend
to the description of Livies house. For the very same
house wherein he lived with his family (as many worthy
persons did confidently report unto me) and wrote many
of his excellent histories with almost an incomparable and
inimitable stile, I saw to my great joy, being in a certaine
street as you go from the Domo, which is the Cathedrall
Church, to the gate Saint Joanna. Now it is possessed
[p- ! 39-] by a certaine Gentleman called Bassano, who at that time
that I was in Padua lived at a villa that he had in the
country, as many Gentlemen of Padua and other Cities
of Italy doe in the Sommer time. So that I found only
an old man and old woman in the house. The front of
A goodly front, ft doth yeeld a goodlier shew then any auncient private
house I could see in all Padua : it is made of passing
faire stone, having a very faire gate which is beautified
with goodly stone-worke on both sides and at the toppe.
On the right hand of the gate there is erected a stony
statue of Catus Sempronius and his wife, with very
auncient letters ingraven in the stone under the statues,
which devouring time hath so eaten and consumed, that
I could understand but little of it. But this I am sure
was at the beginning, C. Sempronius. Also in the same
inscription I read Vxori Clodiae. And these figures,
XXXVI. and these a little after, XXVI. On the left hand
282
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
of the gate I saw two statues more of stone made at
length. And a very beautifull window over the gate, A beautiful
the head whereof was exceeding curiously wrought, and Window -
the sides of free stone, and two faire peeces of marble
were inserted into the window betwixt the casements.
Also I observed in this front great variety of curious little
marble stones cut round, and very exquisitely put into
severall places. After I had thoroughly glutted mine
eyes with survaying all these pleasing objects of the
outside, I departed to another place, and when I came
thither againe the next day, by the meanes of a kinde
Italian I was admitted into the house ; where I saw many
ancient monuments, and sundry Greeke and Latin
inscriptions of great antiquity in stones : the first that
occurred unto me after I was within the house, was in a
fine peece of marble in great capitall letters ; VRATGRIS
ILLYRICI. Next the effigies of a spread eagle fairely A spread
displayed in an olde peece of free stone over the linterne ea &
of the dore of one of the inner rooms next to the entry,
in which stone at the corners are finely inlayed foure
pretty little white marble stones. Over the linterne of [p- H-]
another dore, which is right opposite unto that, were
exactly cut in stone two Dolphins heads, with fine little
marble stones in the same. Also another stone inserted
into the wall, wherein were written certaine words that
I could not reade, such was the strangenesse of the
character. Eight prety little marble stones, partly white,
and partly porphyrie, were inserted into that stone,
wherein those characters were written. Besides I saw a
stately arms of some worthy auncient Romane Gentleman Stately arms.
(as I supposed) made in stone, with great variety of prety
colours, and hanged up in one of the wals for a monu
ment : a very fine paire of staires of ten greeses high,
wherein many of the foresaid litle marble stones were
very artificially inlayed. A very auncient litle pillar of
free stone square, wherein were written these Greeke
wordes in the foure sides : W^oa? in one side, <$ia{3aivoi>Tos
in another, TOV Atvelov in the third, and Tyoo/a? d Acoen? in the
283
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
fourth. I take this to be one of the auncientest monu
ments of all Christendome. For I thinke that this
inscription was made in the time of JEneas, which was
almost one thousand two hundred yeares before the
incarnation of Christ, even two thousand eight hundred
yeares since. For the very wordes themselves seem to
import so much, which I literally interpret thus : The
end of .(Eneas passing or sayling over the sea. For
8ia{3alviv wherehence SiafialvovTos commeth, signifieth
to passe or saile over the Sea, especially when we crosse
the Seas : so that when JEneas sayled from Drepanum a
haven towne of Sicilie (where he buried his old father
Anchises) and Lavinium in Italy, which was vepag
that is, the full period and uttermost bound of his long
travels, he might be very well said Siaftaiveiv that is,
to crosse over the Seas : the passage betwixt these places
being but a crossing of the Seas. Surely it is but probable
enought that this might be made in the time of ^Eneas,
who belike after he had ended so long and dangerous a
[p. 141.] journey, was desirous to erect some kinde of monument
to posterity, as a token of the happy consummation
thereof, in the Greeke language, which was then the
famousest in all the world. This beeing so remarkable
a monument, I thinke some one of the auncient Roman
Emperours might get it into his handes ; and so finally
Livie being a great lover and searcher of antiquities,
and very gracious with the Emperours Augustus and
Tiberius, might request it of them, and bring it to his
house to Padua. The other wordes also Tpoias aXtaa-is
which doe signifie the taking of Troy, doe confirme a
confident opinion in me, that it might be made in the
time of ./Eneas, after the destruction of Troy. Upon
the toppe of this little square pillar, wherein there was
this Greeke inscription, there standeth another little round
stone, about the which there was another inscription
exceeding ancient, whereof I could not reade as much
as one word, though the olde man of the house that
shewed me these things desired me to reade it. The
284
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
stone was but little, yet so heavie, that I was very hardly
able to lift it up with all my strength.
This worthy Elogium I reade also of Livie in the ElogyofLivy.
same roome, written on the wall in faire Roman letters,
neare to his faire staires : Titi Livii Patavini eximiam
laudem ut liquide vir sanctissimus atque doctissimus
Divus Hieronymus S. R. E. Presbyter Cardinalis in
Prooemio Bibliorum testatur sic scribens. Ad T. Livium
lacteo eloquentiae fonte manantem de ultimis Hispaniarum
Galliammque finibus quosdam venisse nobiles legimus,
& quos ad sui contemplationem Roma non traxerat, unius
hominis fama perduxit. Habuit ilia setas inauditum
omnibus seculis celebrandumque miraculum, ut urbem
tantam ingressi, aliud extra urbem quaererent. Demum
quum 76 suae aetatis annum ageret, Patavii 4. Imperii
Tiberii Caesaris anno labori atque vitae subtractus.
In the same wall where I read this, his picture was
painted in white, writing in his booke, with this inscrip
tion under it: Ti. Livius Pat. Rer. Rom. Scriptor nemini [p- H 2 -]
profecto secundus. These foresaid inscriptions and anti
quities I saw in the entry of his house after I came
within the gate, and in his first court. Afterward I went
into an other court beyond that, where I saw a faire little
gallery with foure prety pillars of free-stone ; and many
of those beautifull little marble stones in every place
almost about his court : and many auncient inscriptions
in auncient stones, inserted into the wals of his court
round about. In one white stone I read this inscription
in Roman letters :
Marco Aurelo Marcellino Conjugi Dulcissimo Saufeia
Crispina Conjux.
After this I went farther, even into his garden, where Livy s
I saw many other inscriptions in stone, which I could not Garden.
understand by reason of the strangenesse of the character.
In his garden I saw a goodly Apricock tree passing well
laden with fruite.
Thus much of the house of famous Titus Livius.
[The Santo
285
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
St. Anthony s The Santo which is otherwise called St. Antonies Church,
Church. neare to the which many Jewes dwell, is a very beautiful!
building, but not so faire without as within ; though
indeede it be faire enough without, having five goodly
turrets, whose tops are round in the forme of a globe,
and covered with lead. As I entred into the Church-yard
of this Santo from the Jewes street, I observed a very
memorable matter, to wit, a very goodly brasen statue of
Gattamelita the Captaine of the Yenetians, whom I have
before mentioned, very loftily advanced on hors-back
over the gate of the Church-yard. This statue is passing
exquisitely made, according to the ful and lively propor
tion of a man and horse : and it yeeldeth speciall ornament
to the place. It was erected by the Venetians for a
perpetuall memoriall sake to posterity, to the honour of
[p- H3-] their valiant benefactor Gattamelita, because he wonne
them this city of Padua (as I have before written) by his
prowesse and fortitude. The Church in the inside is
richly garnished with sumptous Tapistry, and many other
beautimll ornaments. Divers monuments are to be seene
St. Anthony a in this Church : but the fairest is that of St. Antony,
Portugal a Portugall Saint, borne in the citie of Lisbon, from whom
the Church hath his name. They told me that he lived
in the time of S. Francis of Assisium, and was canonized
for a Saint about the yeare 1241, by Pope Gregory the
ninth. It is reported that his Tombe hath the vertue to
expell Divels, which I doe hardly beleeve. For I saw
an experiment of it when I was in the Church which came
A Demoniac, to no effect. For a certaine Demoniacall person praied
at the Sepulchre upon his knees, who had another
appointed to attend him, that he should not irreligiously
behave himselfe at so religious a place. And a Priest
walked about the Tombe while the Demoniack was
praying, to the end to helpe expell the divell with his
exorcismes, but the effect thereof turned to nothing.
For I left the fellow in as badde a case as I found him.
The monument itselfe is very sumptuous, made all of
marble, and adorned with most excellent imagerie.
286
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
On the right hand of the body of the Church there
is erected the monument of that eloquent Orator &
Cardinal Petrus Bembus, with his statue, and under the Cardinal
same this Epitaph is written : Petri Bembi Cardinalis Bmbo -
imaginem Hieronymus Quirinus Ismerii films in publico
ponendam curavit : ut, cujus ingenii monumenta aeterna
sint, ejus corporis quoque memoria ne a posteris desid-
eretur. Vixit annos 76. M. 7. D. 29. obiit 15. Calend.
Februarii, Anno 1547. Many other worthy monuments
with elegant Epitaphs I saw both in the Church and the
Cloyster, which the shortnesse of the time of my abode
there would not permit me to write out. Amongst others
in the Cloyster I observed one that made me even lament,
the monument of a certaine English Nobleman, namely [p. H4-]
Edward Courtney, Earle of Devonshire, who was buried Edward
there in the time of Queen Mary : he died there in his
youth, and was the sonne of Henry Earle of Devonshire,
and Marquesse of Exceter, who was beheaded in the
time of King Henry the eighth. This Edward Courtney
was afterward restored by Queene Mary. Truely it
strooke great compassion and remorse in me to see an
Englishman so ignobly buried. For his body lieth in a
poore woodden Coffin, placed upon another faire monu
ment, having neither Epitaph nor any other thing to
preserve it from oblivion ; so that I could not have
known it for an English mans Coffin, except an English
Gentleman my kinde friend Mr. George Rooke, of whom
I have before spoken, had told me of it, and shewed me
the same.
Neare unto the Santo, I was shewed a very pleasant
and delectable roome, which amongst other sumptuous
ornaments that greatly beautified it, had a great many
exquisite pictures very artificially drawne by the curious Pictures
hand of that Apelles of Padua Titianus. drawn by
I saw the sumptuous, and rich Monastery of the Tlttan -
Benedictine Monkes. I call it sumptous, because there
is nothing but pompe and magnificence to bee scene there ;
rich, because their yearly revenew amounteth to one
287
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
hundred thousand Crowns, which make the summe of
thirty thousand pounds sterling. At this time they
bestow exceeding great charges in building, especially
The Church of about the finishing of their Church, which is dedicated
S. Justin. to Saint Justina, a marveilous faire building, the roofe
whereof over the quire is very lofty, made of white stone
in the forme of a hollow nutte, and very curiously con-
camerated : also the pillars of the Church and most of
the inward parts are made of white stone : at the higher
end of the quire there is a wondrous beautiful Altar, the
fairest that ever I saw till then. For it is decked with
many curious pictures and exceeding high pillers made
[p- H5-] of freestone, which are extraordinarily richly gilt. Before
the Altar are drawen two fair curtains of crimson Taffata.
A little without the place which incloseth the Altar, I saw
sixe very precious sockets made indeede but of timber
work, but flowrished over with a triple gilting ; herein
their Tapers stood that were made of Virgins waxe. In
Monument of this Church I saw many ancient monuments, as of Saint
5. Luke. Luke the Evangelist, near to which is hanged up a fair
table, wherein his Epitaph is written in Latin hexameter
verses very elegantly. I have often repented since that
time that I had not copied them : his bones were brought
from Constantinople in an yron coffin which is inclosed in
a great grate of yron, that was likewise brought from
S. Luke s Constantinople, together with the coffin. That coffin I
bones brought touched with my fingers, but with some difficulty: for
Itanfinopie ** was so ^ arre w i tnm tne g ra te that I could hardly
conveigh the tops of my fingers to the coffin. Within
a short space after this coffin was brought to Padua, his
bones were taken out of the olde yron coffin that came
from Constantinople, and laide in a very sumptuous
monument hard by, made of brasse, wherein they now
continue. This monument is erected in the Northside
of the Church ; right opposite unto it in the South side
there standeth the monument of Matthias one of the
twelve Apostles, which was substituted in the place of
Judas Iscariot : there they say his bones are intombed.
288
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
In a low crypta or vaulted Chappell which is directly
under the quire, there is a faire marble monument of
Saint Justina, a chast and devout Virgin of Padua, who s. Justina a
in the time of one of the persecutions of the Primitive devout virgin.
Church was cruelly murdered in this City, because she
would not worship the Pagan Gods. The manner of her
death is very finely expressed in one side of the Sepulchre :
the Christian fleete got that most renowmed victory of
the Turkish fleete under the conduct of many noble
Wights, whereof the principall was that Heroicall Spanish [ p . I4 6.]
worthy Don John de Austria at the famous battle of
Lepanto in Greece upon that very day which is dedicated
to this Saint Justina, in remembrance whereof the Vene
tians ever since that time have written this title upon one
of their coynes, Memor ero tui Justina Virgo : because,
belike they attribute the cause of their victory unto her
intercession to God for the Christians. All these foresaid
tombs I saw, but other famous tombs also that are in the
same Church I did not see : as of Prosdocimus, the first
Apostle of the Patavines, of whom I wil speak hereafter ;
of three of those Innocents that were slaine by Herode
the Great, surnamed the Ascalonite, and of some of the
worthy Martyrs of the Primitive Church. There belong
unto this Monastery one hundred and fifty Monkes,
besides many others that are servants of the house. They
have a very fair quadrangular Cloyster ; the w^alkes are
very long and broad : There, a man that is a lover of
pictures, may see a pretty microcosme of them, wherewith A microcosm
all the wals round about are most excellently adorned, of pictures.
but no amorous conceits, no lascivious toyes of Dame
Venus, or wanton Cupid, all tending to mortification, all
to devotion. For there is very copiously described the
whole History of the first founder and institutor
of their order Saint Bennet, and his familiar parley
with Totilas the fifth Gothicall King of Ravenna,
unto him he truely foretold his future events, for he
delivered this *Prophesie unto him. Multa mala facies,
^Carion. Chroni. lib. 3.
C. C. 289 T
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Twenty
Benedictine
Popes.
[p. 147.]
Wine and
bread for alms.
The skin of a
crocodile.
Romam ingredieris, novem annos regnabis, decimo mori-
eris. These Benedictines told me that there have been
twenty Popes of their order, (for such is the dignitie and
supremacy that they attribute unto them, that they named
them first) Six Emperours : twelve Kings : fourty Car
dinals : Amongst the rest of those memorable pictures
which are to bee seene in this Cloyster, there is one of
the Epitaphs which is written upon Livies monument
over the tribunall seat in the Pallace. Also I saw many
faire high galleries & walkes by their chambers : but I
went not into any one of their chambers, only I saw many
of their dores, whereof each hath a little peece of wood
conveighed over a little hole in the dore ; which peece
of wood being turned about, the Abbot may looke
into their Chambers to see whether they pray, or studie,
or are otherwise employed about any religious exercise.
These Benedictines bestow exceeding bountifull alms
twice every yeare upon the poore, as upon Justinaes day,
which with them is the seventh day of October, and upon
Prosdocimus day, which is the seventh day of July.
Their almes is twelve Cart-loades of Wine, and as many
of bread upon each of those dayes. They have an
exceeding faire garden to walke in for contemplation,
wherin are many delectable walkes, vaulted with pretty
little rafters, over the which faire vines, and other greene
things do most pleasantly grow. These walkes are both
long and broade : in the knots and plots of this garden
there groweth admirable abundance of al commodious
hearbes and flowers. Also I saw two goodly faire roomes
within the Monastery abundantly furnished with passing
variety of pleasant fine waters and Apothecary drugges
that serve onely for the Monkes. In the first of these
roomes I saw the skin of a great crocodile hanged up at
the roofe, and another skinne of a crocodile in the inner
roome. This crocodile is a beast of a most terrible shape,
fashioned something like a Dragon, with wonderfull hard
scales upon his backe. I observed that he hath no tongue
at all ; his eyes are very litle, and his teeth long and sharp.
290
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
Also I noted the nayles of his feet to be of a great length ; Crocodiles livt
he liveth partly in the water, and partly in the land. wa *erand
on land.
For which cause the Grecians call him a^fyifiiov that is,
a beast that liveth upon both those elements ; and hee
liveth for the most part in Nilus that famous river of
Egypt, the Egyptians in former times being so super
stitious that they worshipped him for a god, especially
those people of Egypt that were called Ombitae, who [p- H 8 -]
consecrated certaine dayes to the honour of him as the
Grecians did their Olympia to Jupiter ; and if it happened
that their children were at any time violently taken away
by him, their parents would rejoyce, thinking that they
pleased the God in breeding that which served for his
foode. I will also declare the etymologie of his name,
because it doth excellently expresse his nature : hee is Why he is
called crocodilus partly (Wo TOV SeiXiav raf Kjoo/ca? that is, ca ^ ed
for that he is afeard of the sands of the shore. For tcpo/tr)
doth sometimes signifie the same that a/ujuo? doth, that is,
the sand, and partly cnro TOV o~ei\iav TOV KpoKov that is, for
being afeard of saffron ; for which cause those amongst
the ancient Egyptians that had the charge to looke to
their Bees in their gardens, were wont to smeare their
Bee hives with saffron, which as soone as the crocodile
perceived, he would presently runne away. It is said
that this Monastery is a mile in compasse. There died
a certaine Turke in it within these few yeares that was A converted
converted to Christianity, and after his conversion, he was Turk.
so incessantly given to his devotion and prayers, as no
man more in the whole house.
Thus much of the Monastery of the Benedictine Monkes.
I saw a building not farre from this Monastery where
poore strangers that are newly come to the towne without
any money in their purses, may have entertainment gratis
three dayes and three nights. A very charitable and
Christian custome.
I went to the goodly garden of the City, that lyeth
betwixt the Santo and the Church of St. Justina. It
291
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Medicinable belongeth especially to the Physitians, and is famoused
* over most places of Christendome for the soveraigne
vertue of medicinable hearbes. It is round like a circle,
and yeeldeth a passing fruitfull nursery of great variety
of hearbes and trees. Amongst the rest I saw a certaine
[p. 149.] rare tree w hereof I have often read both in Virgil and
other Authours, but never saw it till then. It is called
in Latin Platanus, which word is derived from the Greeke
word 7r\arv9 which signifieth broade, because he doth
extend his boughes very far in breadth ; wherehence Virgil
sait " prona surgebant valle patentes
aerias platani,
in English, we call it the Plane tree. It was of a goodly
height. The Poets do faine that Jupiter dallied with
Europa under this kinde of tree. And it was in former
times so highly esteemed amongst the Romans by reason
of the shadow, that they were wont sometimes to nourish
the roote of it with wine poured about it. Also I saw a
very prety fruit which is esteemed farre more excellent
then Apricocks, or any other dainty fruit whatsoever
Pistacki fruit, growing in Italy. They call it Pistachi, a fruit much
used in their dainty banquets. They were going about
to make a conduit in the middle of their garden when I
was there. Those that are interessed in this garden have
certaine lawes written for them, which you may reade
cut in a faire marble table that is artificially inserted into
the first gate of the garden. For the due execution
whereof there are three learned men chosen to fine the
offendours. These are the lawes which are written in
Latin :
1 Portam hanc decumanam ne pulsato ante diem Marci
Evangelistse, ante horam XXII.
2 Per decumanam ingressus, extra decumanam ne
declinato.
3 In viridarium scapum ne confringito, neve florem
decerpito, ne semen fructumve sustollito, radicem
ne effodito.
292
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
4 Stirpem pusillam succrescentemque ne attrectato,
neve areolam conculcato, transilitove.
5 Viridarii injuria non afficiuntor.
6 Nihil invito Praefecto attentato.
7 Qui secus faxit, sere, carcere, exilio mulctator.
I visited the Palace of the Bishop of Padua, whose name [ p . I5o .j
is Marcus Cornelius, descended (as a Gentleman told me The Bishop s
in the City) of the auncient and honourable family of Palace.
the Cornelians of Rome. He was at Rome, when I was
in Padua. In a certaine gallery of his Palace there are
to be seene the true pictures of all the Bishops of Padua,
from Prosdocimus the first converter of the Patavines to
the Christian faith, to this present Bishop Marcus
Cornelius, successively one after another, being all in
number one hundred and nine. This Prosdocimus was
sent from Rome by St. Peter to preach the Gospell to the
Patavines, of whom there is mention in the Ecclesiasticall
History. They say he built the first Christian Temple
in the City which was dedicated to St. Sophia. His statue
is made in free stone downe to the middle, having a long
reverend beard, and erected in the front of a most sumptu
ous publique Palace of the City, which belongeth only to
him, that is the Prsefectus or Capitano of the City under
the Duke of Venice. The present Capitano is Petrus The present
Dodo a Clarissimo of Venice, whom I saw at Sarum about Captain of
sixe yeares since, when he came in Ambassage to our King
with another of the Clarissimoes of Venice, one Signior
Molino. This publique Palace is a very auncient and
faire building (as indeed the publique houses of this
City are esteemed as faire as any in all Italy,) where
amongst other antiquities I saw the auncient pictures of
many Roman Gallants. But to returne againe to the
Bishops Palace, I observed one very memorable thing
there, when I came forth of the gate. For directly over
the gate the statues of Henry the fourth, who was the last
King of Padua, and Berta his Queene are erected, being
made in stone unto the middle. Hereby I gather that
293
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
151.]
Hangings of
leather.
A curious
handkerchief.
this Bishops Palace, was once a Kings Palace. I was also
in another publique Palace that belonged to the Praetor
or Podesta of Padua, who at that time that I was in the
City was one Thomaso Contareno a Venetian Gentleman,
whom I saw in the Palace with other Venetian Gentlemen.
In one of the higher rooms of this Palace I observed very
faire hangings, the like whereof I never saw in England.
But when I came afterward to Venice I noted great store
of them. They are made of a prety kind of leather, and
fairly gilt, an ornament that yeeldeth no small grace to a
roome. In both sides of this roome there hang many
exceeding faire halberts, which are covered with crimson
velvet, and studded with gilt studdes. Over each of these
halberts there hangeth likewise a target covered with like
crimson velvet. In the next roome there are many curious
pictures, in one whereof there is the exquisites! convey
ance that ever I saw, which is a prety little picture drawen
in the forme of an handkerchiefe with foure corners, and
inserted into another very large and faire picture. The
lesser picture is so passing cunningly handled, that the
lower corners of it seeme either to hang loose, and to be
a prety way distant from the ground of the maine picture,
or to be pinned upon the other. And so will any stranger
whatsoever conceive at the first sight thereof, as indeede
I did, in so much that I durst have laid a great wager,
even ten to one, that the lower corners of it had beene
loose or pinned on. But such is the admirable, and
methinks inimitable curiosity of the worke, that it is all
wrought upon the very ground of the other great picture,
as the other severall parts thereof are. In another roome
The bed of the of the same Palace I saw the bed of the Podesta, which
was a very sumptuous thing, neare to the which there was
as curious a picture of Christ and the Virgin Mary, with
the manger wherein he was laid, and the Oxe, &c. as the
hand of any artificer ever drew. All this is very excellently
contrived in a faire looking glasse that hangeth at the side
of his bedde.
After this I went to the Domo, which is the Cathedrall
294
Praetor.
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
Church of Padua, an auncient thing, built by the
Emperour Henry the fourth. In every Episcopall City
of Italy they call their Cathedrall Church Domo, by which [p. 152-]
they mean the principall house /car e^o^v that is
appointed for the service of God. In this Domo of Padua
there are many antiquities. In a low chappell or vault
under the Quire I saw the Tombe of one Daniel a valiant Daniel a
Martyr in the Primitive Church, and a Jew borne ; he valiant
was martyred in one of the first persecutions, in this mart v r
manner. Two boords were clapped on both sides of his
body, through the which there were driven many great
nailes into his body, because he would not worship the
Heathen idols. The manner of his death is finely pour-
trayed in one side of the monument in marble. In this
Domo there is a very curious picture of the Virgin Mary,
the first that was drawen from the first originall that
Sainte Luke the Evangelist made, which I saw in Venice,
as I will hereafter declare in my notes of Venice. For
they say, he was the first that made our Ladies picture.
This miracle is reported of this picture: that whensoever A picture that
in the time of any drought it is carryed abroad in proces- causetA rain.
sion, before it is brought againe into the Church
it causeth store of raine to descend from heaven.
What my censure is of this miracle I will speake in my
description of Saint Markes Church in Venice, because
there will be fit occasion ministred unto me to write
something of it. The like is reported of Aarons
rodde also that is kept in Paris. Of this Domo, that
famous Poet and Orator Francis Petrarch that flour- Petrarch.
ished Anno 1374. was once a Canon. The Canons of
this Church are said to be the richest of all Italy. For
each of them hath the yearlie revenues of a thousand
crowns, which amount to three hundred pound sterling.
There is in this City a very auncient gate built by
Antenor of an exceeding heigth, even as high as a Church.
This gate is in that part of the City that is called the old
City, neare to the signe of the Starre where I lay being
a very faire Inne, wherein I saw one thing of which I
295
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
[p- I53-] have much read in Authours, as in the * Miscellanea of
Angelus Politianus, &c. but never saw any of them till
then. I have read five names for it in Latin, Tepidarium,
Vaporarium, Sudatorium, Laconicum, Pyriaterium. In
A hot stove. E n gli s h a stew, stove, or hot baine. They use to sweat
in the roome where it standeth. In all Italy I saw but
only this stove : but afterward when I came into Rhetia,
Helvetia, high Germany, and some parts of the Nether
lands, there is such frequent use of them in all those
countries, especially in the winter, that I lay not in any
house whatsoever, but it had a stove. I observed at this
signe of the Starre a great company of Noblemens armes,
wherewith the roome was hanged in which I dined and
supped, no lesse than fifty five Armes of Earles, Barons,
Counts, and worthy Gentlemen of sundry Nations and
Provinces. The like I noted in Venice also. For it is
much used in Italy to garnish their houses with the armes
Houses of great men. But much more in Germany. For there,
adorned with no t only the inside of their houses is adorned with them,
but also the outside, especially in Innes, which have the
walls of their courts hanged round about with Armes.
Truely I must needs lay an imputation of great indiscre
tion upon my selfe, in that being in so famous a University
as this I omitted to see their Colledges, which are in
number nine, heare their exercises and disputations,
observe their statutes and priviledges, the foundations and
revenues of their houses, discourse with some of their
learned men & professors, and note such other worthy
things as are observable in so noble an Academy. For
my minde was so drawen away with the pleasure of other
rarities and antiquities, that I neglected that which indeed
was the principalest of all. Howbeit I saw one of their
colledges without, which is but a little way distant from
the Palace, though I had not the good fortune to go into
it, because the gate was locked. It seemeth to be a most
magnificent building, and is a second f Athenaeum. For
* Cap. 8. f This was the name of a place in Rome dedicated to
Minerva, where orators did declame, and Poets recited their poems.
296
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
therein are read at the time of exercise all the seven [p- *54-]
liberall sciences. This Colledge or Schoole hath a very
stately gate at the entrance with two goodly pillars of
white stone on each side. The golden winged Lyon which The Lion of
is St. Marke his armes of Venice, is gallantly displayed St - Mark.
above the gate. And againe above this Lyon a little
beneath the toppe of the front, this most elegant poesie
is written in Capitall blacke letters upon a ground of
gold. But in my opinion it had beene much more laud
able, if the ground had beene blacke, and the letters
golden. For indeede it is a very golden poesie. Sic
ingredere ut teipso quotidie doctior, sic egredere ut patriae
Christianaeque reipub. utilior evadas. Ita demum gym
nasium se fceliciter ornatum existimabit. Joannes
Cornelius Praetor & Antonius Priolus Prefectus, Anno
salutis C!D. lo. c. Directly under that I read this inscrip
tion : Gymnasium omnium disciplinarum Principe Pas-
chale Ciconia. Praesidibus loanne Superantio Equite, &
Federico Sanuto. Reformatoribus loanne Francisco
Priolo, Zacharia Contareno, Leonardo Donate Equite.
Instauratum Anno M.D.XCI.
In another part of the front this is written a prety
distance from the rest, in two severall groundes of gold
one above another, In the higher, this in great and
capitall Romane letters : loannes Baptista Bernardus
Praetor & Leonardus Mocenicus Praefectus. In the lower
this, Hanc gymnasii partem vetustate deformatam, in
meliorem faciem a fundamentis restituerunt. lacobo
Fuscareno Equite & Procuratore Hieronymo Capello,
loanne Delphino Equite & Procuratore Gymnasii Modera-
toribus. Anno Salutis cio,io.ci.
I heard that when the number of the Students is full, 1 500 students
there are at the least one thousand five hundred here : " Padua.
the principall faculties that are professed in the University,
being physicke and the civill law : and more students of
forraine and remote nations doe live in Padua, then in
any one University of Christendome. For hither come
in, many from France, high Germany, the Netherlands, [p. 155.]
297
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
England, &c. who with great desire flocke together to
Padua for good letters sake, as to a fertile nursery, and
sweete emporium and mart town of learning. For
Many learned indeed it hath bred many famous and singular learned
m ^ n - men within these hundred yeares, and a little more, as
Raphael Regius, Raphael Fulgosus, Francis Zabarella,
Francis Robertellus, Lazarus Bonamicus, Christopher
Longolius, Hieronymus Fracastorius, Scipio Cartero-
machus, and many more that have greatly beautified
the Common-weale of learning.
One thing I must needs speake of Padua, together
with the rest, that as it is both a great commodity and
ornament to the citie ; so also it is the rarest thing that
ever I saw in any place, neyther do I thinke that any
citie of Christendome hath the like.
Vaulted There is no street that I saw in the whole citie, but hath
walks. f a } r vau lted * walks in the same, which are made in this
manner : There is a long rowe or range of building that
extendeth itselfe in length from one end of the street to
the other, and is inserted into the walls of the houses of
the same streete. In many places it is some twelve foote
high, being arched at the roofe, and about five foote
broad, that two may well walke together in it. The
edge or extremity of this walke is garnished with faire
broad pillars of free-stone, being some foure foote distant,
and having an Arch or vault betwixt each couple : these
walkes doe yeelde the citizens two singular commodities :
Cool in the one, that in the Summer time they may walke there
summer, tiry in very coolely even at noone, in the very hottest of all the
canicular dayes, as under a pleasant and safe shelter, from
the scorching heate of the sunne : the other that in the
winter they defend them both from the injury of the raine
(for in these they may walk abroad farre from their houses
dry in the middest of a violent storme) and not a little
[p. 156.] from the byting colde, the force whereof they will more
feele in the open streetes. Besides, as I said before, it
* These walkes in most places are made in both sides of the street,
which doe very much beautifie the same.
298
OBSERVATIONS OF PADUA
is a great ornament to the Citie. For indeed it doth
greatly adorne and decke the streetes beyond all compari
son of any other Italian citie. The first Jewes that I A multitude oj
saw in all Italy were in Padua, where there is a great JewiinPadua.
multitude of them.
There is one speciall thing wanting in this citie, which
made me not a little wonder ; namely, that frequency
of people which I observed in the other Italian cities.
For I saw so few people here, that I thinke no citie of
all Italy, France or Germany, no, nor of all Christendome
that countervaileth this in quantity, is lesse peopled : so
that were the students removed, the number of whom
is sometimes about one thousand five hundred (as I have Scarcity of
before written) this citie would seeme more then halfe P e P^-
desolate : yet their Praetorium or Senate house that I have
before described, I observed sometimes to be pretty well
frequented with people. It was tolde me, having
inquired the reason of this scarcity of inhabitants, that
most of the nobler Patavine families doe live out of the
citie, partly in Venice, and partly in their villaes and
Palaces of retrait in the countrey, and doe very seldome
make their aboad in Padua. But the reason why they
abandon the citie, and preferre other places before it, no
man told me.
In that I have written more copiously of Padua than
of any other Italian citie whatsoever saving Venice, I do
thankefully attribute it to two English Gentlemen that Two English
were then commorant in Padua when I was there, Mr. gentlemen.
Moore Doctor of Physicke, and Mr. Willoughby a
learned Student in the University, by whose directions
and conducting of me to the principall places of the citie,
I ingenuously confesse I saw much more then otherwise [p- 15 7-]
I should have done by mine owne endevours. And so
finally with a gratefull mention of their names, for their
courtesie shewed unto me in a forraine nation farre from
my countrey, I conclude my discourse of Padua.
Thus much of Padua.
299
I
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Made my aboad in Padua three whole dales, Tuesday
being the eleventh of June, Wednesday and Thursday,
and went away therehence in a Barke downe the river
Brenta the twenty fourth of June being Friday, about
seven of the clocke in the morning, and came to Venice
about two of the clocke in the afternoone. Betwixt
The River Padua and Venice it is five and twenty miles. This River
Brenta. Brenta is very commodious for the citizens of Padua.
For they may passe forth and backe in a Barke downe
the river from Padua to Venice, and from Venice againe
to Padua very easily in the space of foure and twenty
houres. When they go to Venice they passe downe the
River secundo cursu ; when they returne they go adverse
flumine, their Barke being drawne with horses all the
way betwixt Lucie Fesina and Padua, which is twenty
miles.
Pleasure When I passed downe the River to Venice I saw many
goodly faire houses and Palaces of pleasure on both sides
of the River Brenta, which belong to the Gentlemen of
Venice.
When I came to the foresaid Lucie Fesina, I saw Venice,
and not before, which yeeldeth the most glorious and
heavenly shew upon the water that ever any mortal eye
beheld, such a shew as did even ravish me both with
delight and admiration. This Lucie Fesina is at the
uttermost point and edge of the lande, being five miles
on this side Venice. There the fresh and salt water would
meete and be confounded together, were it not kept
asunder by a sluce that is made for the same purpose,
over which sluce the Barkes that go forth and backe
Barks lifted betwixt Padua and Venice, are lifted up by a certaine
by a crane. cranei At this Lucie Fesina, I went out of my barke,
and tooke a Gondola which brought me to Venice. Of
[p. 158.] these Gondolas I will write hereafter in my description
of Venice.
300
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
The Number of Miles betwixt Odcombe, in Somerset- Number of
shire, and Venice : in which Account I name onely a l " betmxt
<- it /", Odcombe and
few principal! Cities. Venice
IMprimis, betwixt Odcombe and London - 106
Item, betwixt London and Dover 57
Item, betwixt Dover and Calais 27
Item, betwixt Calais and Paris 140
Item, betwixt Paris and Lyons 240
Item, betwixt Lyons and Turin 130
Item, betwixt Turin and Milan 76
Item, betwixt Milan and Padua 151
Item, betwixt Padua and Venice 25
The total summe betwixt Odcombe and Venice is 952
Betwixt Calais and Venice 762
My Observations of the most glorious, peerelesse,
and mayden Citie of Venice : I call it mayden,
because it was never conquered.
Julius Caesar Scaliger hath written these Verses upon Scaligers
Venice verses upon
Venice.
PErvia Barbaricis tellus OEnotria turmis
Pertulit impositi pondera dira jugi.
Ipsa suos flevit populares Roma Quirites :
Sensit & indomitae noxia tela manus.
Haud tulit hoc Genius, cujus fatalibus ausis r -,
Tutior in medio Roma renata mari est.
Clara virum virtus animo, insatiata cupido
Imperii, vastae non numerantur opes.
Juppiter, haud temere tua sunt ita dissita cceli
Moenia, si possent tangere, parte cares.
I heard in Venice that a certaine Italian Poet called
Jacobus Sannazarius had a hundred crownes bestowed
upon him by the Senate of Venice for each of these
verses following. I would to God my Poeticall friend
Mr. Benjamin Johnson were so well rewarded for his
301
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Poems here in England, seeing he hath made many as
good verses (in my opinion) as these of Sannazarius.
Viderat Adriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis
Stare urbem, & toto ponere jura mari :
Nunc mihi Tarpeias, quantumvis Juppiter, arces
Objice, & ilia tui moenia Martis, ait.
Si pelago Tybrim praefers, urbem aspice utramque,
Illam homines dicas, hanc posuisse Deos.
The same Poet made this distich upon the winged Lyon,
which is the armes of Venice.
Romanas Aquilae postquam liquere cohortes,
Magnanimus turmas ducit in arma Leo.
An elegant Also I have read this most elegant Dialogue betwixt one
dialogue. anc } st. Marke.
A. Die antique senex, Venetae quis conditor urbis?
B. Juppiter. A. unde arces? B. Attica. A. Scorta?
B. ven 9 .
A. Moenia? B. Neptunus. A. Nummi? B. Dis.
A. Bellica? B. Mavors.
A. Artes? B, Mercurius. A. Jura? B. Minerva
dedit.
Non mirum est, si alias inter caput extulit urbes,
Quam tot ccelestes composuere deae.
Quin cum tot simul hanc, solus Vulcanus Olympi
Sedes ; Hie credo cesserit aula Jovi.
Verum ego cum possem ccelum conscendere, dixi :
Mutato hie potius corpore, marmor ero.
Though the incomparable and most decantated majestie
of this citie doth deserve a farre more elegant and curious
[p. 1 60.] pensill to paint her out in her colours then mine. For
I ingenuously confesse mine owne insufficiency and un-
worthiness, as being the unworthiest of ten thousand to
describe so beautifull, so renowned, so glorious a Virgin
(for by that title doth the world most deservedly stile her)
because my rude and unpolished pen may rather staine
302
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
and eclipse the resplendent rayes of her unparalleled / praise of
beauty, then adde any lustre unto it : yet since I have Vemce -
hitherto continued this slender and naked narration of my
observations of five moneths travels in forraine countries ;
this noble citie doth in a manner chalenge this at my hands,
that I should describe her also as well as the other cities
I saw in my journey, partly because shee gave me most
loving and kinde entertainment for the space of sixe
weeks, which was the sweetest time (I must needes
confesse) for so much that ever I spent in my life ; and
partly for that she ministered unto me more variety of
remarkable and delicious objects then mine eyes ever
survayed in any citie before, or ever shall, if I should
with famous Sir John Mandevil our English Ulysses
spend thirty whole yeares together in travelling over
most places of the Christian and Ethnicke world. There
fore omitting tedious introductions, I will descend to the
description of this thrise worthie citie : the fairest Lady,
yea the richest Paragon and *Queene of Christendome.
Such is the rarenesse of the situation of Venice, that
it doth even amaze and drive into admiration all strangers
that upon their first arrivall behold the same. For it is
built altogether upon the water in the innermost gulfe
of the Adriatique Sea which is commonly called Gulfo di Venice 3 miles
Venetia, and is distant from the maine Sea about the space f rom sea -
of 3 miles. From the which it is divided by a certaine
great banke called litto maggior, which is at the least fifty
miles in length. This banke is so necessary a defence
for the Citie, that it serveth in steed of a strong wall to
repulse and reverberate the violence of the furious waves
of the Sea. For were not this banke interposed like a
bulwarke betwixt the Citie and the Sea, the waves would [p- 161.]
utterly overwhelme and deface the Citie in a moment.
The forme of this foresaid banke is very strange to
* I call her not thus in respect of any soveraignty that she hath over
other nations, in which sense Rome was in former times called Queene
of the world, but in regard of her incomparable situation, surpassing
wealth, and most magnificent buildings.
303
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A great ^ bank behold. For nature herselfe the most cunning mistres
and architect of all things hath framed it crooked in
forme of a bow, and by the Art of man there are five
Ostia, that is mouthes, or gappes made therein, whereof
each maketh a haven, and yeeldeth passage to the ships
to saile forth and backe to Venice. The names of them
are Malomocco (which is the fairest) a place well furnished
with houses, and much inhabited with people, Brondolo,
Chioggia, Saint Erasmo, Castella. Now that whole space
which is betwixt this banke and the continent, (which
where it is nearest, is five miles from Venice at a place
called Lucie Fesina above mentioned) is the same which
we call Gulfo di Vinetia, or the * lakes of the Adriatique
sea, in which space are to be seene many fennes, marishes,
and other dry places, whereof some are covered altogether
with reedes and flagges, others doe shew like faire little
greene Islandes, which are the very places that yeelded
harbour to divers companies of people, that in the time
Fens a safe of the Hunnes, Goths, and Vandals devastation and
refuge. depopulation of Italy repaired thither with their whole
families as to a safe refuge and Sanctuary for the better
security of their lives, the greatest part of them that made
their habitation in these lies being the bordering people
that dwelt partly in the townes and villages by the sea
shore, and partly in the inland Cities of Padua, Vicenza,
Aquileia, Concordia, Lauretto, &c. The first place of Venice
The Rialto t h a t W as inhabited, is that which now they call the Rialto,
first inhabited. W j 1 j c } 1 wor( j j s derived from rivus altus, that is, a deepe
river, because the water is deeper there then about the
other Islands. And the first that dwelt in the same
Rialto was a poore man called Joannes Bonus, who got his
living there by fishing. After this many repaired unto
* These lakes are fed and maintained, partly by the Sea water that
passeth thorough the five gaps or mouths before mentioned, and partly
by the rivers which issue out of the Alpes, who having passed through
Lombardy do at last exonerate themselves into this gulfe. The prin-
cipallest are these : The Po, which bringeth 30 rivers more with him at
the least before he commeth into these lakes, the Athesis, the Brenta,
and the Bachilio.
34
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
this mans house for the safety of their lives in the time [p. 162.]
of Radagisus King of the Goths, who with a huge armie Radagisus
of two hundred thousand men invaded Italy, wasting it King of the
extremely with fire and sword, till at last being taken at Goths -
Phsesulae, a place neare to Florence by the Consull Stillico,
in the eighteenth yeare of the raigne of Honorius the
Emperour, and Anno Christi foure hundred and nine, he
was hanged for his barbarous cruelty. About five yeares
after the death of Radagisus, came Alaricus another
Gothicall King into Italy, and very grievously sacked the The country
country, so that more of the landed inhabitants were sa ^ e ^h
constrained to retire themselves into these lakes, where
they built twenty toure little poore cottages upon some
of the little islands, or rather upon that one island neare
to the Rialto. Againe not long after this, even shortly
after the death of Alaricus came that Flagellum Dei, that
scourge of God into Italy, Attila, King of the Hunnes,
and spoyled the country with marvailous hostility in the
time of the Emperour Martian. Great was the ruin of
Italy in this mans time, who utterly overthrew Aquileia,
Milan, Padua, and many other goodly cities, levelling the
same with the ground. Wherefore unto those that did
inhabite divers islands of these lakes, were sent many
more from Padua, who laide the first foundation of this Venice
glorious citie on the five and twentieth day of May about f ounde ^
noone, in the yeare foure hundred fifty seven, and the
third yeare of the Emperour Martian. And for the
better performance of this noble enterprise there were
chosen three Consuls by the Citizens of Padua, that had
the principal charge over all the rest, whose names were
Thomas Candianus, Albertus Faletrus, Zenus Daulus.
As for the name of the Citie it is derived from a province
or territory called Venetia. For that part of Lombardie
which is now called Marca Tarvisina, had heeretofore the
I follow the computation of learned Melancthon, though I know
that some do reduce the time of the foundation of it to the yeare foure
hundred twenty one, as Sabellicus, &c. So that there is thirty sixe yeares
difference betwixt the computation of Melancthon and other writers.
C. C. 305 U
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
[ P . 163.]
The name of
Venice.
The Grand
Canal.
Magnificent
palaces.
Flat roofs
generally used
in Italy.
name of Venetia, which worde is altered from the auncient
name by the addition of the letter v ; for the olde name
was Enetia, which came from the word Eneti a people of
Paphlagonia that accompanied Antenor in his whole
voyage betwixt their country and the citie of Padua,
which he afterward built. Wherefore because there was
a transmigration of all the principall families of the terri
tories of Venetia unto this new founded citie, they
thought it meete to impose the name of Venetia (before
time proper onely to a province) upon the citie, after
which time the province lost his name, and the citie hath
ever since retained it to this day. Thus much for the
first originall and name of Venice.
The City is divided in the middest by a goodly faire
channell, which they call Canal il grande. The same is
crooked, and made in the form of a Roman S. It is in
length a thousand and three hundred paces, and in breadth
at the least forty, in some places more. The sixe parts of
the City whereof Venice consisteth, are situate on both
sides of this Canal il Grande. The names of them are
these, St. Marco, Castello, Canareio, that lie on one side
of it, and those on the other side are called St. Polo,
St. Croce, Dorso Duro. Also both the sides of this
channel are adorned with many sumptuous and magni
ficent Palaces that stand very neare to the water, and
make a very glorious and beautifull shew. For many
of them are of a great height three or foure stories high,
most being built with bricke, and some few with faire
free stone. Besides, they are adorned with a great
multitude of stately pillers made partly of white stone,
and partly of Istrian marble. Their roofes doe much
differ from those of our English buildings. For they
are all flat and built in that manner as men may walke
upon them, as I have often observed. Which forme of
roofing is generally used in all those Italian Cities that
I saw, and in some places of France, especially in Lyons,
where I could not see as much as one house but had a
flat roofe. The like whereof I have read to have beene
306
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
used in auncient times in Jerusalem, and other Cities of [p- l6 4-]
Judaea. Which I partly gather by a speech of our
f Saviour Christ, when as sending his twelve Apostles to
preach in Judaea, he commanded them that what they
heard in the eare they should preach on the houses.
Whereby I understand that the roofes of their houses
were flat like these of the Venetian buildings. Moreover
O
their tiling is done after another manner then ours in Hollow tiling.
England. For they lay it on hollow, but we flat. Many
things I observed in these Venetian Palaces, that make
them very conspicuous and passing faire ; amongst the
rest these two things especially. Every Palace of any Walks
principall note hath a prety walke or open gallery betwixt between the
the wall of the house and the brincke of the rivers banke, P a aces and
the edge or extremity whereof is garnished with faire
pillers that are finely arched at the top. This walke
serveth for men to stand in without their houses, and
behold things. Suetonius calleth these kinde of open
galleries Podia. Truly, they yeeld no small beauty to
their buildings. Againe, I noted another thing in these
Venetian Palaces that I have very seldome seen in
England, and it is very little used in any other country
that I could perceive in my travels, saving only in Venice
and other Italian Cities. Somewhat above the middle of
the front of the building, or (as I have observed in many
of their Palaces) a little beneath the toppe of the front
they have right opposite unto their windows, a very
pleasant little tarrasse, that jutteth or butteth out from Terraces
the maine building : the edge whereof is decked with jutting from
many prety litle turned pillers, either of marble or free e ? tn
^ I-TM i i r i i buildings.
stone to leane over. Inese kmde or tarrasses or little
galleries of pleasure Suetonius calleth Meniana. They
give great grace to the whole edifice, and serve only for
this purpose, that people may from that place as from a
most delectable prospect contemplate and view the parts
of the City round about them in the coole evening.
Withall I perceived another thing in their buildings, which
t Matt. 10, 27.
37
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Houses built on
piles.
Costly
foundations.
[p. 165.] as it is the rarest thing that ever I saw in my life, so I
hold it convenient to be mentioned in this discourse. The
foundations of their houses are made after a very strange
manner. For whereas many of them are situate in the
water, whensoever they lay the foundation of any house
they remove the water by certaine devices from the place
where they lay the first fundamentall matter. Most
commonly they drive long stakes into the ground, without
t h e w hich they doe aggerere molem, that is, raise certaine
heapes of sand, mudde, clay, or some other such matter
to repell the water. Then they ramme in great piles of
woodde, which they lay very deepe, upon the which they
place their bricke or stone, and so frame the other parts
of the building. These foundations are made so exceed
ing deep, and contrived with so great labour, that I have
heard they cost them very neare the third part of the
charge of the whole edifice. But all the houses of the
City are not founded with this difficulty. For those that
are built upon the middle of the Islands, or any other
part thereof, saving only upon the brincks, or in the
very water it selfe, are founded in that manner as other
houses are upon the maine land. These kinde of founda
tions thus made upon piles, I have both read and heard
to be contrived in the like manner both at the noble
towne of Amsterdam in Holland, and at Stockholme the
Metropolitan City of Suethland, most of the buildings
of which Cities are founded like to these of the Venetian
houses. But to returne againe to the Canal il grande
wherehence I digressed, it is said there are in the City
of Venice at the least a hundred and twenty goodly
Palaces, the greatest part whereof is built upon the sides
of this great Channel. So that if you will take a view
of the fairest Palaces that the whole City yeeldeth, you
must behold these Palaces of the Canal il grande, either
from the Rialto bridge, or passing in a little Boate which
they call a Gondola (which I will hereafter describe)
[p. 1 66.] through the Channel it selfe. For this place presenteth
the most glorious buildings of all Venice, saving the
308
Amsterdam
and Stockholm
built on piles.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
Dukes Palace that adjoyneth to St. Marks Church, and
some other magnificent fronts of St. Marks streete.
Amongst the rest I observed two passing sumptuous Two
Palaces, situate upon the sides of this Canal il grande, 5um P tuous
whereof, the one was newly built by the last Duke ^ a
Marino Grimanno the Predecessor of Leonardo Donato,
who then possessed the Dukedome when I was in Venice,
which maketh an exceeding goodly shew, and consisteth
all of milke white free stone, and very costly pillars.
The other is that Palace wherein Henry the third of that
name King of France lay, Anno 1574, at what time after
the death of his brother Charles the ninth, he came out
of Polonia, and tooke Venice in his way home into
France.
There is only one bridge to go over the great channell,
which is the same that leadeth from St. Marks to the
Rialto, and joyneth together both the banks of the
channell. This bridge is commonly called Ponte de The bridge of
Rialto, and is the fairest bridge by many degrees for one Rtalto.
arch that ever I saw, read, or heard of. For it is reported
that it cost about fourescore thousand crownes, which doe
make foure and twenty thousand pound sterling. Truely,
the exact view hereof ministred unto me no small matter
of admiration to see a bridge of that length (for it is two
hundred foote long, the channell being at the least forty
paces broade as I have before written) so curiously com
pacted together with one only arch ; and it made me
presently call to minde that most famous bridge of the
Emperour Trajan, so celebrated by the auncient historians, Trajan s
especially that worthy Greeke Authour Dion Cassius, ^idge over the
i i i 1 -i i T^V L- 1 Danube.
which he built over the river Danubms, to enter the
country of Dacia, now called partly Walachia, and partly
Transilvania, when he waged warre with Decebalus King
thereof. For the same Authour writeth that the foresaid
bridge being built all of squared stone, contayned twenty [p. 167.]
arches, whereof each was a hundred and fifty foote high,
threescore broade, and the compasse of each arch betwixt
the pillars comprehended one hundred and threescore
309
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
An arch foote. But this incomparable one-arched bridge of the
greater than Ri a } to doth farre excell the fairest arch of Trajans both
in length and breadth. For this is both forty foote longer
then any arch of his bridge was, and a hundred foote
broader, as I will anon declare in the more particular
description thereof. But in height I beleeve it is a little
inferiour to the other. For the comparing of both which
bridges together in respect of the breadth & length of
their arches, I have thought good to make mention
(neither I hope altogether impertinently) of the said
Emperours bridge in this place. But now I will proceede
with the description of this peerelesse bridge of Venice.
It was first built but with timber (as I heard divers
Venetian Gentlemen report) but because that was not
correspondent to the magnificence of the other parts of
the City, they defaced that, and built this most sumptuous
bridge with squared white stone, having two faire rowes
Shops on the of prety little houses for artificers, which are only shops,
bridge. not dwelling houses. Of these shops there are two rowes
in each side of the bridge till you come to the toppe.
On that side of this bridge which is towards St. Marks,
there are ten severall ascents of staires to the toppe, on the
other side towards the Rialto twelve ascents. Likewise,
behind these shops there are very faire staires to the toppe,
which doe reach in length from the backside of them to
the farthest edge of the bridge. Of these staires behind
the shops there are foure paire, two behind the two rowes
of the shops in one side of the bridge, and as many in
the other side, each degree of staires containing five and
fifty greeses or steps. Moreover this bridge hath two
very faire terrasses or railes made at the edge of the same
on both sides, to the end to leane over and behold the
[p. 1 68.] goodly buildings about the Canal il grande, each whereof
hath sixe severall partitions at every ascent, each partition
containing nine little turned pillers of white stone. And
at the toppe are two partitions more on the plaine walke,
which is two and thirty paces long, that is, an hundred
and sixty foote. For so much is the breadth of the bridge.
310
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
So that each side of the bridge containeth fourteene
severall stony railes or partitions in all, whereof sixe make
one ascent, sixe more another, and two are upon the plain
walke at the toppe. All the partitions on both sides being
in number eight and twenty, and all the pillers two 151 pillars.
hundred fifty and two. At the toppe of the bridge
directly above those rowes of buildings that I have
spoken of, wherein the artificers shops are, there are
advanced two faire arches to a prety convenient heigth
which doe greatly adorne the bridge. In those arches I
saw the portraiture of the heads of two Hunnicall Gyants
that came into Italy with King Attila, very exactly made
in the inside of the toppe.
There are in Venice thirteen ferries or passages, which Ferries called
they commonly call Traghetti, where passengers may be Traghetti.
transported in a Gondola to what place of the City they
will. Of which thirteene, one is under this Rialto bridge.
But the boatmen that attend at this ferry are the most
vicious and licentious varlets about all the City. For if a
stranger entereth into one of their Gondolas, and doth
not presently tell them whither he will goe, they will
incontinently carry him of their owne accord to a religious vicious
house forsooth, where his plumes shall be well pulled boatmen.
before he commeth forth againe. Then he may afterward
with Demosthenes buy too dear repentance for seeing
Lais, except he doth for that time either with Ulysses
stop his eares, or with Democritus pull out his eyes.
Therefore I counsaile all my countrimen whatsoever,
Gentlemen or others that determine hereafter to see
Venice, to beware of the Circaean cups, and the Syrens
melody, I meane these seducing and tempting Gondoleers
of the Rialto bridge, least they afterward cry Peccavi [p. 169.]
when it is to late. For
facilis descensus Averni,
Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis.
Besides they shall finde the iniquity of them to be such,
Virgil. ^Enei. 6.
3 11
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
that if the passenger commandeth them to carry him to
any place where his serious and urgent businesse lies,
which he cannot but follow without some prejudice unto
him, these impious miscreants will either strive to carry
him away, maugre his hart, to some irreligious place
whether he would not goe, or at the least tempt him with
their diabolicall perswasions.
The Rialto which is at the farther side of the bridge
as you come from St. Marks, is a most stately building,
The building being the Exchange of Venice, where the Venetian
f the Gentlemen and the Merchants doe meete twice a day,
betwixt eleven and twelve of the clocke in the morning,
and betwixt five and sixe of the clocke in the afternoone.
This Rialto is of a goodly heigth, built all with bricke as
the Palaces are, adorned with many faire walkes or open
f galleries that I have before mentioned, and hath a prety
quadrangular court adjoyning to it. But it is inferiour
to our Exchange in London, though indeede there is a
farre greater quantity of building in this then in ours.
In one of the higher roomes which belongeth only to the
State, there is kept wondrous abundance of treasure,
which I will hereafter relate in my description of St.
Marks, because there I shall take occasion to speak some
thing of it.
Each street hath many severall bridges, some more,
some lesse, whereof most are stony, and those vaulted
^Q bridges in with one Arch. The whole number of them is said to
Venice. b e foure hundred and fiftie. Almost every channell
(whereof there are about seventy two, even as many as
doe answere the number of the Islands whereon the citie
is built) hath his land street joyning to it, which is fairely
[p. 170.] pitched or paved with bricke, and of so convenient a
breadth some few of them are, that five or sixe persons
may walke together there side by side, and some are so
narrow, that but two can walke together, in some but one.
Also in many places those land streetes are in both sides
of the channell, in some in one side onely, in some few
t Podia.
312
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
in neither. Moreover there are other little streetes called
Calli, which we may more properly call land streets then Land streets.
the other, because they are made in the maine land of the
Islands farre from the channels. These also are paved
with bricke as the others are : but many of them are much
narrower then those by the channels. For I have passed
through divers of them which were so narrow, that two
men could not without some difficultie walke together in
one of them side by side.
The channels (which are called in Latin euripi or The channels.
aestuaria, that is, pretty little armes of the Sea, because
they ebbe and flow every sixe houres) are very singular
ornaments to the citie, through the which they runne even
as the veynes doe through the body of a man, and doe
disgorge into the Canal il grande, which is the common
receptacle of them all. They impart two principall com
modities to the citie, the one that it carryeth away all the
garbage and filthinesse that falleth into them from the
citie, which by meanes of the ebbing and flowing of the
water, is the sooner conveighed out of the channels, though
indeede not altogether so well, but that the people doe
eftsoones adde their owne industry to dense and purge
them : the other that they serve the Venetians instead of
streetes to passe with farre more expedition on the same,
then they can do on their land streetes, and that by certaine
little boates, which they call Gondolas the fayrest that Gondolas.
ever I saw in any place. For none of them are open
above, but fairly covered, first with some fifteene or
sixteene little round peeces of timber that reach from
one end to the other, and make a pretty kinde of Arch
or vault in the Gondola; then with faire blacke cloth [p. 171.]
which is turned up at both ends of the boate, to the end
that if the passenger meaneth to be private, he may draw
downe the same, and after row so secretly that no man
can see him : in the inside the benches are finely covered
with blacke leather, and the bottomes of many of them
together with the sides under the benches are very neatly
garnished with fine linnen cloth, the edge whereof is laced
313
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
with bonelace : the ends are beautified with two pretty
and ingenuous devices. For each end hath a crooked
thing made in the forme of a Dolphins tayle, with the
fins very artificially represented, and it seemeth to be
Watermen tinned over. The Water-men that row these never sit
always stand. as ours do j n L on d on , but alwaies stand, and that at the
farther end of the Gondola, sometimes one, but most
commonly two ; and in my opinion they are altogether
as swift as our rowers about London. Of these Gondolas
they say there are ten thousand about the citie, whereof
sixe thousand are private, serving for the Gentlemen and
others, and foure thousand for mercenary men, which get
their living by the trade of rowing.
The fairest place of all the citie (which is indeed of
that admirable and incomparable beauty, that I thinke no
place whatsoever, eyther in Christendome or Paganisme
ThePiazzaor may compare with it) is the Piazza, that is, the Market
marketplace. pj ace o f St. Marke, or (as our English Merchants com-
morant in Venice, doe call it) the place of S. Marke, in
Latin Forum or Platea Di. Marci. Truely such is the
stupendious (to use a strange Epitheton for so strange
and rare a place as this) glory of it, that at my first
entrance thereof it did even amaze or rather ravish my
senses. For here is the greatest magnificence of architec
ture to be seene, that any place under the sunne doth
yeelde. Here you may both see all manner of fashions
of attire, and heare all the languages of Christendome,
besides those that are spoken by the barbarous Ethnickes ;
[p. 172.] the frequencie of people being so great twise a day,
betwixt sixe of the clocke in the morning and eleven,
and againe betwixt five in the afternoon and eight, that
(as an elegant writer saith of it) a man may very properly
call it rather Orbis then Urbis forum, that is, a market
place of the world, not of the citie. The considera
tion whereof caused a certaine German Poet, after
he had thoroughly survayed the wondrous beautie
of it, to write these most excellent verses in praise
of the place.
3M
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
Si placeat varies hominum cognoscere vultus, A German
Area longa patet sancto contermina Marco, poet s verses.
Celsus ubi Adriacas Venetus Leo despicit undas.
Hie circum gentes cunctis e partibus orbis
./Ethiopas, Turcas, Sclavos, Arabesque, Syrosque,
Inveniesque Cypri, Cretoe, Macedumque colonos,
Innumerosque alios varia regione profectos.
Saspe etiam nee visa prius, nee cognita cernes.
Quae si cuncta velim tenui describere versu,
Hie omnes citius nautas, celeresque phaselos,
Et simul Adriaci pisces numerabo profundi.
But I will descend to the particular description of this The
peerelesse place, wherein if I seeme too tedious, I crave
pardon of thee (gentle Reader) seeing the variety of the
curious objects which it exhibiteth to the spectator is such,
that a man shall much wrong it to speake a little of it.
The like tediousnesse thou art like to finde also in my
description of the Dukes Palace, and St. Markes Church,
which are such glorious workes, that I endeavoured to
observe as much of them as I might, because I knew it was
uncertaine whether I should ever see them againe, though
I hoped for it. This street of St. Marke seemeth to be
but one, but if the beholder doth exactly view it, he will
finde that it containeth foure distinct and severall streetes
in it, which I thus divide : The first is that which reacheth
from the front of St. Markes Church to the opposite
front of St. Geminians Church. The second from that [p- i?3-]
notable clocke at the comming into St. Markes from the
Merceria, (whereof I will hereafter make mention) to the
two lofty marble pillars neare to the shore of the Adriatique
gulfe. These two streetes doe seeme to contend for the
superiority, but the first (in my opinion) is the fairest of
them. The third reacheth from the bridge neare to the
prison, along by the South side of the Dukes Palace, and
so by the Sea shore, to the end of that stately building a
little beyond the foresaid pillars. The fourth and the
last from one side of St. Markes Church to the Canons
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The fairest houses. The first of these two is beyond all comparison
street of all ^ f a i rest o f a jj E urO pe. For it hath two such magni
ficent fronts or rowes of building on the North and South
sides opposite to each other, especially that on the North
side, that they drove me into great admiration, and so I
thinke they doe all other strangers that behold the same.
These two rowes are the principall things that beautifie
St. Marks place ; the upper part whereof containeth the
dwelling houses of some of the Clarissimoes and Gentle
men of the citie, the lower part the houses of artificers
and mechanical men that keepe their shops there. Againe,
the lower part is fairely vaulted, especially that of the North
side, and adorned with walks, Podia, such as I have
already spoken of about the Palaces of the Canal il grande,
Open or open galleries for the people to walke in, having a great
galleries. multitude of faire pillars at the sides. Both these rowes
North and South are built with very goodly faire white
stone, or rather (as I take it) Istrian Marble, two stories
high above the vaulted walke, having two faire rowes of
windowes in it, whereof the North side that for many
yeares since was fully finished, hath ninety nine, and
betwixt each window a pretty little piller of Istrian Marble.
The pillers of the North walke are in number fifty three,
being square, made of Istrian Marble as the lesser above.
Betwixt every two pillers that make the arch, there is the
[p. 174.] distance of nine foote and a halfe, and the walke in length
two hundred paces and fifteene in breadth. This North
side doth make a singular faire shew, and exceedingly
grace Saint Markes place, and by so much the more
beautifull it is, by how much the more uniformity of
Uniformity of workmanship it presenteth. For such is the symmetrie
workmanship. anc j d ue proportion of building both in this front and all
the others, that the whole range or rowe of the edifice is
altogether alike, no part of the whole fabricke differing a
jot from the other. The like uniformitie of building 1
observed in our Ladies street of Paris, but in a different
manner and matter much inferiour unto this. The South
side of this first part of Saint Markes street is but little
316
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
more then halfe ended. For it was but lately begunne :
But such is the curiositie and sumptuousnesse of the
worke, that it will excell the North side in beauty when
it is once finished, and marvailously adorne the place.
There are two rowes of windowes in this South side also Rows of
to answere the North front, but of each of these rowes mndows -
there were no more then twenty windowes ended when I
was in Venice. Betwixt every row or story of this new
building in the South side there is a very faire front
chamfered with curious borders and images, above which
there is a rowe of pretty little tarrasses or rayles betwixt
every window, foure smal turned pillars of Istrian Marble
making each tarrasse : This South series or rowe of
building shall answere the north opposite unto it in length.
That which is already done being correspondent unto it
in breadth, for the walke is fifteene foote broade, and the
distance betwixt the pillers is nine foote and a halfe. The
length of this part of Saint Markes which reacheth from
East to West, is betwixt the dore of Saints Markes Church
and Saint Geminians Church two hundred thirty sixe 5. Geminlan s
paces, and the breadth from South to North one hundred Church.
paces. The Church of Saint Geminian is exceeding faire
built with white marble, over the gate whereof I reade
this inscription written in Capitall blacke letters upon a [p. 175.]
ground of gold. Hanc oedem urbis non vetustissimam
solum verum etiam augustissimam Senatus Venetus
antiqua religione obstrictus magnificentius pecunia publica
reficiendam curavit. Anno post Christ, natum M.C.
LVII. summa Benedicti Manzini Antistitis cura. This
part of the Piazza, together with all the other is fairely The Piazza
paved with bricke, which maketh a shew fair enough ; but P az> ^ Wltl >
had it beene paved either with diamond pavier made of
free stone, as the halles of some of our great Gentlemen
in England are, (amongst the rest that of my Honourable
and thrise- worthy Meccenas Sir Edward Phillips, in his
magnificent house of Montague, in the County of
Somerset, within a mile of Odcombe, my sweet native
soile) or with other pavier ex quadrate lapide, which we
317
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
call Ashler, in Somersetshire, certainly it would have
made the whole Piazza much more glorious and resplen
dent then it is.
The second part which reacheth from the clocke at the
entrance of St. Marks from the Merceria, as I have before
said, to the two huge marble pillars by the shore of the
Adriatique gulfe, is exceeding fair also, but is something
inferiour to the first. This is in length two hundred and
thirty paces, and in breadth threescore and seven. This
part of the Piazza is worthy to be celebrated for that
Concourse of famous concourse and meeting of so many distinct and
nations. sundry nations twise a day, betwixt sixe and eleven of
the clocke in the morning, and betwixt five in the after-
noone and eight, as I have before mentioned, where also
the Venetian long gowned Gentlemen doe meete together
in great troupes. For you shall not see as much as one
Venetian there of the Patrician ranke without his blacke
gowne and tippet. There you may see many Polonians,
Slavonians, Persians, Grecians, Turks, Jewes, Christians
of all the famousest regions of Christendome, and each
nation distinguished from another by their proper and
[p. 176.] peculiar habits. A singular shew, and by many degrees
the worthiest of all the Europasan Countries. There are
two very goodly and sumptuous rowes of building in this
part also, as in the other that I have already described,
which doe confront each other. One of these rowes is
The tvest front the West front of the Dukes Palace which is adorned
of the Duke s w ith a faire walke about fourescore and sixteene paces
palace. long, and sixteene foote broade. At the edge whereof
there is a row of goodly pillars, betwixt which faire arches
are made at the top. Againe, betwixt every couple there
is sixteene foote distance. These pillars are not very
high, but of so great a compasse that I could hardly
compasse one of them at twise with both my armes. The
number of them is nineteene. Above this walke is a faire
long gallery contrived in the front of the Palace, having
seven and thirty pillars of white stone at the side thereof,
or rather Istrian marble. But of those seven and thirty
318
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
there are two made of red marble, betwixt which one of
their Dukes was beheaded for many yeares since, as a
Gentleman told me in Venice. For a memoriall whereof
those pillars were erected as a monument to posterity.
Also betwixt every couple of pillars in this high gallery
there goeth a prety little tarrasse of white stone, contayn-
ing three small marble pillars. Above the toppe of the
arch of the gallery there are seven faire glasse windowes
a prety way distant asunder, whereof the middle is
exceeding faire, having two goodly rowes of red marble Red marble.
and alabaster pillars, that runne up to the very top of the
frontispice. Which rowes are garnished with the statues
of women cunningly wrought. A little without the
window there is a faire tarrasse butting out, made of white
and red marble to leane over, serving for a faire prospect.
These kinde of windowes were heretofore used in Rome
amongst the auncient Romans, which they call Meniana,
as I have before written. Above the toppe of this
window within a faire circle of alabaster is pourtrayed a
mother with her three infants about her, and on both [p- J 77-]
sides without that compasse are presented the statues of
two women more, above which the armes of Venice are
displayed, that is, the winged Lyon with the Duke in his
Ducal ornaments kneeling before it. All these things are
expressed in alabaster. Againe, above that three men are
curiously carved with bookes in their hands, which sit
within a hollow place made of red marble. At the toppe
of all this the Image of Dame Justice is erected at large, Image of
according to the whole proportion of a body in alabaster Justice.
as the rest, with a paire of scales in one hand, and a sword
in the other. In this manner is the middle window of
the South side of the Dukes Palace made. Which
although it ought to be mentioned especially in the par
ticular description of the Palace hereafter, yet it is not
altogether impertinent to this matter, because it is the
principall ornament that doth grace this second part of
St. Marks place. Opposite unto this part of the Dukes
Palace there is another very sumptous row of building
319
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
about some two stories high, built all with white stone
and that with great curiosity. Under this building is
A vaulted another faire vaulted walke about a hundred and sixe paces
long, and fifteene foote broade, and at the outside garnished
with two and twenty very goodly pillars of white stone,
having one and twenty arches. Betwixt every couple of
these pillars is nine foote and a halfe distance as before.
Likewise over every arch of that side there is a faire two
leafed window, decked with two prety pillars of Istrian
marble, and a tarrasse before every window containing
five little round marble pillars. There is another thing
also that doth greatly garnish this whole building, the
Images that are erected at the very toppe of the front,
curiously carved in Istrian marble, as I conceive it, and in
number foure and twenty, they are made so large that
they answere the full proportion of a mans body. In this
row of building are some of the Clarissimoes dwelling
[p. 178.] houses, whereof one belonging to one of the Procurators
of St. Marks, is exceeding beautifully built, all with white
stone, with a faire quadrangular court, about the walles
whereof many worthy antiquities are to be seene, as
auncient statues of Roman Worthies made in Alabaster
and other stone. There I read this inscription written in
a certain stone which is about three foote high, and a foote
and halfe broade. Marce Tulli Cicero have, & tu Terentia
Stone brought Antoniana. I have read that this stone was kept within
from Zante. ^ &se f ew y ea res in Zacynthos now called Zante a famous
Hand in the Ionian Sea, from whence it was afterward
brought to Venice. There also I saw a statue of one of
the Roman Emperours, pourtrayed at length in alabaster
with a garland of laurell about his temples, a cap upon his
head, and a mantle wrapped about his body. About the
toppe of the base whereon this statue standeth there is
a Greeke inscription which I could not understand by
reason of the antiquity of those exolete letters : in the
Court there was a Souldier pourtrayed at length with a
blacke pike in his hand, and many women at length.
Withall I saw there ten fragments of statues in severall
320
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
parts of the Court, and five whole statues, saving one,
whose head and the upper part of his body was broken
off. Also foure little statues made in a manner as Livies
and Speronus Speronius at the upper end of the hall of
the Palace of Padua.
It happened that when I was very diligently survaying
these antiquities, and writing out inscriptions, there came
a youth unto me, who because he thought I was a great
admirer and curious observer of auncient monuments,
very courteously brought me into a faire chamber, which
was the next roome to Cardinall Bessarions f Library, so Cardinal
famous for auncient manuscripts both Greeke and Latin, Bessarion s
where I observed a little world of memorable antiquities Library.
made in Alabaster, and some few in stone, which were
brought thither by Cardinall Grimannus Patriarch of [p. 179.]
Aquileia, being digged up as it is thought, partly from
out of the ruines of the foresaid citie of Aquileia, after it
was sacked by Attila King of the Hunnes ; and partly from
Rome and other places. These antiquities are very highly
esteemed in Venice ; so that they are now no private and
particular mans onely, but belong altogether to the State
or Signiory, who hath built a faire chamber that is assigned
to no other use, but onely to containe these auncient
monuments. The particulars that I saw there were these :
The statue of Marius that noble Roman so famoused for Statues in the
his conquest of the Cimbri, of whom he slew an hundred DukisPalace.
and forty thousand, as many Historiographers do record.
He was made but to the middle ; Julius Caesar in alabaster,
but little more then his head : Cleopatra in alabaster,
onely her head with a blacke vaile about it. The same
againe with stumpes without any hands, and her serpent
by her, with which she stung her selfe to death : Pompey
the Great, a little more then his head : Augustus Caesar at
length in alabaster with a long gowne or mantle about
him : Marcus Antonius the Triumvir in alabaster to the
middle : Tiberius Cassar onely his head : Nero onely his
f This Library did first belong to Francis Petrarcha, who by his
last will and testament made the Senate of Venice heire thereof.
C. C. 321
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
NobleRomans. head : Vitellius in alabaster onely his head : Vespasianus
in alabaster, but little more then his head : his sonne
Titus Vespasianus that sacked Jerusalem, onely his head :
Cocceius Nerva : Antoninus Pius little more then his head,
and his daughter the Empress Faustina, wife to his
successor and adopted sonne Marcus Antoninus the
Philosopher : Her statue is at length : Commodus at
length : Adrianus in alabaster, onely his head : Aurelianus
in alabaster, but little more then his head ; & by him a
statue of his wife Faustina : Aurelianus againe when he
was a yong man : Clodius Balbinus companion in the
Empire with Maximus Pupienus, most exquisitely done
in alabaster to the middle : Julianus Apostata a little more
then his head : the statue of a Senator of Rome made
[p. 1 80.] a t length in alabaster, with a long gowne as they were
wont to sit in the Senate house : Venus in alabaster at
Statues of the large all naked, and little Cupid winged, sitting on a
Dolphin hard by her : Pallas at length in alabaster, with
a helmet upon her head, and a plume of feathers upon
the crest : Pallas againe with a goodly crest : three
Gladiatores, whereof one slaine : Antaeus the Giant whom
Hercules slew by elevating him from his mother the
earth : the same again and Hercules wrestling together :
Cupid againe at length by himselfe in alabaster : Pallas
againe the third time : Hercules in alabaster at length :
the statue of Jupiter made in alabaster very little, with
an Eagle upon his backe hanged up with an iron rodde
to the middle of the roofe : Bacchus at length with a cluster
of grapes in his hands : Mercurius with a winged cap,
which is called Petasus, wherehence he is called Petas-
atus : Ulysses naked : Jupiter againe in the forme
of a Swanne, wantonly conversing and dallying with
Leda : Medusaes head, made very terrible to behold,
with long serpentine haire, and great gogling eyes :
an Altar whereon the Gentiles offered sacrifice unto
their Idols, and hard by the same an Idol it selfe made in
blacke, standing on the ground, which was worshipped in
the citie of Rhodes : a statue of Cornucopia in alabaster :
322
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
two Urnes wherein the ashes of the Emperours were laid
after their bodies were burnt ; and lastly a representation A repnsen-
of St. Markes Church most curiously contrived. All f " fio "f,.
. J . S/. Mark s.
these notable antiquities 1 saw in that chamber, where a
certaine fellow pointed out the particulars to me, like to
the keeper of our monuments at Westminster. These
things I thought good to insert into my description of this
second part of St. Markes place, because they are kept in
a chamber of that magnificent row of building opposite
to the west end of the Dukes Palace, which is a principall
ornament of this second part. The last tHing that
remaineth to be spoken of concerning this second part
of St. Markes streete is a matter most memorable, and
therefore I will relate it at large with some not impertinent [p- 181.]
circumstances of it : At the farther end of this second part Two
of the Piazza of S. Marke there stand two marveilous lofty marvellous
pillars of marble, which I have before mentioned, of equall P illa " V
i t i i 11 r i marble on the
heigth and thicknesse very neare to the shore or the p- iazza O f
Adriatique gulfe, the fairest certainely for heigth and Sf. Mark.
greatnesse that ever I saw till then. For the compasse
of them is so great, that I was not able to claspe them
with both mine armes at thrice, their Diameter in thick
nesse containing very neare foure foote (as I conjecture).
Besides they are of such an exceeding heigth, that I
thought a good while there were scarce the like to be
found in any place of Christendome, till at length I called
to my remembrance that wondrous high pillar in a certaine
market place of Rome, on whose top the ashes of the
Emperour Trajan were once kept. For that pillar was
about one hundred and forty foot high, but this I thinke
is scarce above thirty. They are said to be made of
Phrygian marble, being solid and all one peece. They
were brought by Sea from Constantinople for more then
foure hundred years since. Upon the top of one of them
are advanced the arms of Venice, the winged Lyon made
all of brasse ; on the other the statue of S. Theodorus
gilt, and standing upon a brasen Crocodile, with a speare
in one hand, and a shield in another. This S. Theodorus
3 2 3
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
5. Theodorus.
A third pillar
brought from
Constan
tinople.
[p. 182.]
The pillars
erected by
Nicolas
Beratterius.
The South
front of the
Duke s Palace.
was a valiant warriour, and the generall Captaine of the
Venetian armies, whom by reason of his invincible
courage, and fortunate successe in martiall affaires that he
atchieved for the good of this citie, the Venetians caused
to be canonized for a Saint, and do with many ceremonious
solemnities celebrate his feast every year. There was a
third pillar also brought from Constantinople at the same
time that these were : which through the exceeding force
of the weight when they were drawing of it out of the
ship into the land, fell downe into the water, by reason that
the tackling and instruments that those men used which
were set a worke about it, brake asunder. That same
pillar is yet to be felt within some ten paces of the shore :
those two that doe now stand hard by the sea shore were
erected about some eighteene paces asunder, by one
Nicolas Beratterius a Longobard, and a very cunning
architect. It is reported that this man craved no other
reward of the Senate for his labour, then that it might be
lawfull for any man to play at dice at all times betwixt
those pillars without any contradiction, which was granted,
and is continually performed. In this distance betwixt
the pillars condemned men and malefactors are put to
death. For whensoever there is to be any execution, upon
a sudden they erect a scaffold there, and after they have
beheaded the offenders (for that is most commonly their
death) they take it away againe.
Thus farre I have described the second part of St.
Markes streete, having mentioned all the principallest
things that it doth present to the eyes of man. The last
two partes are nothing comparable to the first two, so that
I cannot mention any memorable thing in eyther of them.
The third extendeth it selfe (as I have before spoken)
from the bridge neare the prison along the Sea shore to
the end of that sumptuous building beyond the pillars : in
which space there is nothing to be observed but only the
South front of the Dukes Palace, which indeed is
wondrous beautifull. But because it is uniforme and
answerable in workemanship unto the west front of the
3 2 4
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
Palace, that I have already described both in walks,
galleries, tarrasses, Meniana, windows, images, &c. I
hold it superfluous to write any thing of it : onely I adde
this which was forgotten in the description of the west
front. The whole front both of the south and west side of
the Palace is very rarely beautified with white and red White and red
marble, which addeth marveilous glory to the edifice, marble.
The length of this third part is one hundred and thirty
paces, the bredth thirty five. The fourth and the last
part reacheth from the North side of S. Markes Church [p. 183.]
(as I have above mentioned) to the Canons houses, being
in length sixty nine paces, in bredth thirty eight.
Thus much of S. Markes place.
THere are many notable things to be considered in
this Piazza of St. Marke, the principall whereof I
will relate before I come to the description of St. Markes
Church and the Dukes Palace : Most memorable is the The Tower of
Tower of St. Marke, which is a very faire building, made St - M(lrk -
all of bricke till towards the toppe, being distant from
St. Markes Church about some eighty foote : It is from
the bottome to the toppe about some two hundred and
eighty foote, and hath such an exceeding deep foundation,
that some doe thinke the very foundation cost almost as
much as the rest of the building from the ground to the
top. This Tower is square, being of an equall bredth in
every side, namely forty foot broad. The whole top is
covered with pieces of brasse, made in forme of tyles
that are gilt. Such is the heigth of this Tower that in a
faire season it is to be scene by sea from Istria and Croatia,
which is at the least one hundred miles from Venice : the
staires are made after such a strange manner that not Stairs easy of
only a man, or woman, or childe may with great ease ascent -
ascend to the top of it, but also an horse, as it is commonley
reported in the citie. But I thinke this will seeme such a
paradox and incredible matter to many, that perhaps they
will say I may lie by authority (according to the old
proverbe) because I am a traveller. Indeed I confesse I
3 2 5
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
saw no horse ascend the staires ; but I heard it much
reported in Venice, both by many of my countrey-men,
and by the Venetians themselves ; neither is it unlikely
to be true. For these staires are not made as other
common staires, by which a man can ascend by no more
then a foote higher from staire to staire till he commeth
to the highest ; but these are made flat, and ascend so
[p. 184.] easily by little and little in heigth, that a man can hardly
be weary, and scarce perceive any paines or difficulty in
the ascent. For that whole space which begins from the
entrance of the staire at the corner of the Tower within,
till you ascend to the next corner, which perhaps containeth
about some twenty foot at the least, is esteemed but one
staire. When you have ascended almost as high as you
can, you shall leave the staires, and enter into a voyde loft,
and from that you are conveyed by a short ladder into a
little square gallery butting out from the Tower, and
made in the forme of a tarrasse, being supported with
faire round pillars of alabaster. From every side of which
A general square gallery you have the fairest and goodliest prospect
view of little that is (I thinke) in all the world. For therehence may
Christendom. vou see j-j^ wno i e model and forme of the citie sub uno
intuito, a sight that doth in my opinion farre surpasse all
the shewes under the cope of heaven. There you may
have a Synopsis, that is, a general view of little Christen-
dome (for so doe many intitle this citie of Venice) or
rather of the Jerusalem of Christendome. For so me
thinks may a man not improperly call this glorious citie
of Venice : not in respect of the religion thereof, or the
situation, but of the sumptuousnesse of their buildings,
for which we reade Jerusalem in former times was famoused
above al the Easterne cities of the world. There you
may behold all their sumptuous Palaces adorned with
admirable variety of beautiful pillars : the Church of S.
Marke which is but a little way therehence distant, with
the Dukes stately Palace adjoyning unto it, being one
of the principall wonders of the Christian world ; the lofty
Rialto, the Piazza of Saint Stephen which is the most
326
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
spacious and goodly place of the Citie except St. Markes ;
all the sixe parts of the citie. For into so many it is
divided, as I have before said ; their streetes, their
Churches, their Monasteries, their market places, and all
their other publike buildings of rare magnificence. Also
many faire gardens replenished with diversity of delicate [p- 185-]
fruites, as Oranges, Citrons, Lemmons, Apricocks, muske
melons, anguriaes, and what not ; together with their little
Islands bordering about the citie wonderfully frequented
and inhabited with people, being in number fifty or there
about. Also the Alpes that lead into Germany two waies, The Alps to be
by the Citie of Trent, and the Grisons country ; and those seen from
that leade into France through Savoy, the Appennines, the ^ Mark s
pleasant Euganean hils, with a little world of other most
delectable objects : therefore whatsoever thou art that
meanest to see Venice, in any case forget not to goe up
to the top of Saint Markes tower before thou commest
out of the citie. For it will cost thee but a gazet, which
is not fully an English penny : on the toppe of the tower
is erected a brasen *Angell fairely gilte, which is made in
that sort that he semeth to blesse the people with his hand.
There is adjoyned unto this tower a most glorious little The Logetto,
roome that is very worthy to be spoken of, namely the & glorious
Logetto, which is a place where some of the Procurators of 10t
Saint Markes doe use to sit in judgement, and discusse
matters of controversies. This place is indeed but little,
yet of that singular and incomparable beauty being made
all of Corinthian worke, that I never saw the like before
for the quantity thereof. The front of it looking
towards the Dukes Palace is garnished with eight curious
pillars versicoloris marmoris, that is, of marble that hath
sundry colours ; wherof foure are placed at one side of the
dore, and foure at another. The steppes of the staires
which are in number foure, are made of red marble. Two
faire benches without it of red marble. The walke a little
without paved with Diamond pavier contrived partly with
free stone and partly with red marble : all the front of red
* This Angell was erected Anno Domi. 1517.
3 2 7
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
marble, except the images which are made of most pure
alabaster : over the tribunal where the Procurators sit, the
[p. 1 86.] image of the Virgin Mary is placed bearing Christ in her
armes made of alabaster, and two pretty pillars of
changeable-coloured marble on both sides of her, under
whom this is written in a little white stone : Opus Jacobi
Sansovini. The sides of the dore are made of alabaster,
and the top rayled with a curious tarrasse of alabaster.
Four statues of On both sides of the dore are foure very goodly faire
a " statues made in brasse, two on one side, and two on the
other ; each betwixt a paire of those curious pillars that
I have spoken of. On the right hand as you enter the
dore, there are these two, the statue of Mercury with a
dead mans skull under his feete : The other, the statue
of Peace with a burning torch in her hand, wherwith she
burneth an helmet (a strange thing to burn steele with
fire) and a Target. On the left hand these two ; Pallas
very exquisitely made with an helmet and a feather in the
crest, a shield in one hand, and a trunchin in another, a
mantle about her and a Souldiers coat of maile : the other
the statue of Apollo like a stripling without a beard, with
an home in one hand, and a quiver full of arrowes in
another hanging downe about his neck. All these statues
were made by Jacobus Sansovinus a Florentine.
The street The fairest streete of all Venice saving Saint Markes,
C M $d which I have already described, is that adjoyning to St.
Markes place which is called the Merceria, which name it
hath because many Mercers dwell there, as also many
Stationers, and sundry other artificers. This streete
reacheth from almost the hither side of the Rialto bridge
to Saint Markes, being of a goodly length, but not
altogether of the broadest, yet of breadth convenient
enough in some places for five or sixe persons to walke
together side by side ; it is paved with bricke, and
adorned with many faire buildings of a competent height
on both sides ; there is a very faire gate at one end of
this street even as you enter into St. Markes place when
you come from the Rialto bridge, which is decked with a
328
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
great deale of faire marble, in which gate are two pretty [p. 187.]
conceits to be observed, the one at the very top, which
is a clocke with the images of two wilde men by it made
in brasse, a witty device and very exactly done. At which
clocke there fell out a very tragicall and rufull accident
on the twenty fifth day of July being munday about nine
of the clocke in the morning, which was this. A certaine
fellow that had the charge to looke to the clocke, was 4 dock maker
very busie about the bell, according to his usuall custome killed.
every day, to the end to amend something in it that was
amisse. But in the meane time one of those wilde men
that at the quarters of the howers doe use to strike the
bell, strooke the man in the head with his brazen hammer,
giving him such a violent blow, that therewith he fel down
dead presently in the place, and never spake more. Surely
I will not justifie this for an undoubted truth, because I
saw it not. For I was at that time in the Dukes Palace
observing of matters : but as soone as I came forth some
of my country-men that tolde me they saw the matter with
there owne eies, reported it unto me, and advised me to
mention it in my jornall for a most lamentable chance.
The other conceit that is to be observed in this gate is
the picture of the Virgin Mary made in a certaine dore
above a faire Dial, neare to whom on both sides of her
are painted two Angels on two little dores more. These Doors which
dores upon any principall holiday doe open of themselves, open of
and immediately there come forth two Kings to present tfiemse ^ es -
themselves to our Lady, unto whom, after they have done
their obeysance by uncovering of their heads, they returne
againe into their places : in the front of this sumptuous
gate are presented the twelve celestial signes, with the
Sunne, Moone, and Starres, most excellently handled.
There are in St. Markes place right opposite to the
two corners of the West end of the Church three very
lofty poles made either of Beech or pine tree. At the
top whereof there is a pretty round brasen Globe, and [p. 188.]
under the same a brasen plate whrein St. Marks armes,
the winged lyon is displayed. These poles are of an
3 2 9
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Three lofty
poles.
A porphyry
stone for
traitors heads.
[p. 189.]
Gallows of
alabaster.
equall heigth, each of them at the least one hundred and
twenty foote high as I suppose. They are infixed on as
many severall brasen bases which are very curiously carved
with images and pretty fine borders. On each of these
poles is hanged a great red flagge upon every festivall day,
with the winged Lyon made in it in gold. The like is
done upon two as long poles that stand upon the two
corners of the West end of St. Markes Church. This
ceremony I saw observed in Venice upon some daies when
I was there, and hath been (they say) a long time used
amongst them ; but I will confesse mine ignorance, for
truly what they meane by it I know not.
At the South corner of St. Markes Church as you go
into the Dukes Palace there is a very remarkable thing
to be observed. A certaine Porphyrie stone of some yard
and halfe or almost two yards high, and of a pretty large
compasse, even as much as a man can claspe at twice with
both his armes. On this stone are laide for the space of
three dayes and three nights, the heads of all such as being
enemies or traitors to the State, or some notorious
offenders, have been apprehended out of the citie, and
beheaded by those that have beene bountifully hired by
the Senate for the same purpose. In that place do their
heads remain so long, though the smell of them doth
breede a very offensive and contagious annoyance. For
it hath beene an auncient custome of the Venetians when
soever any notorious malefactor hath for any enormous
crime escaped out of the City for his security to propose
a great reward to him that shal bring his head to that
stone. Yea I have heard that there have beene twenty
thousand duckats given to a man for bringing a traytors
head to that place.
Near to this stone is another memorable thing to be
observed. A marvailous faire paire of gallowes made of
alabaster, the pillars being wrought with many curious
borders and workes, which served for no other purpose
but to hang the Duke whensoever he shall happen to
commit any treason against the State. And for that cause
33
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
it is erected before the very gate of his Palace to the A remem-
end to put him in minde to be faithfull and true to his
country, if not, he seeth the place of punishment at hand.
But this is not a perfect gallowes, because there are only
two pillars without a transverse beame, which, beame (they
say) is to be erected when there is any execution, not else.
Betwixt this gallowes malefactors and condemned men
(that are to goe to be executed upon a scaffold betwixt
the two famous pillars before mentioned at the South
end of St. Marks street, neare the Adriaticque Sea) are
wont to say their prayers to the Image of the Virgin
Mary, standing on a part of S. Marks Church right
opposite unto them.
Also, there is a third thing to be scene in that place,
which is very worthy your observation, being neare to the
foresaid gallowes, and pourtrayed in the corner of the wall
as you goe into the Dukes Palace. The pourtraitures of Portraitures if
foure Noble Gentlemen of Albania that were brothers, ft noble
which are made in porphyrie stone with their fawchions ^n, an \ a
by their sides, and each couple consulting privately
together by themselves, of whom this notable history
following is reported. These Noble brothers came from
Albania together in a ship laden with great store of riches.
After their arrivall at Venice which was the place whereunto
they were bound, two of them went on shore, and left
the other two in the ship. They two that were landed
entred into a consulation and conspiracy how they might
dispatch their other brothers which remayned in the ship,
to the end they might gaine all the riches to themselves.
Whereupon they bought themselves some drugges to that
purpose, and determined at a banquet to present the same [p. 190-]
to their other brothers in a potion or otherwise. Likewise
on the other side those two brothers that were left in the
shippe whispered secretly amongst themselves how they
might make away their brothers that were landed, that
they might get all the wealth to themselves. And there
upon procured means accordingly. At last this was the
final issue of these consultations. They that had beene
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Unnatural
brethren.
Sir Henry
Wotton a
notable guide.
[p. 191.]
The Mint of
St. Mart s.
at land presented to their other brothers certaine poysoned
drugges at a banquet to the end to kill them. Which
those brothers did eate and dyed therewith, but not
incontinently. For before they died, they ministred a
certaine poysoned march-pane or some such other thing
at the very same banquet to their brothers that had been
at land ; both which poysons when they had throughly
wrought their effects upon both couples, all foure dyed
shortly after. Whereupon the Signiory of Venice seised
upon all their goods as their owne, which was the first
treasure that ever Venice possessed, and the first occasion
of inriching the estate ; and in memoriall of that un
charitable and unbrotherly conspiracy, hath erected the
pourtraitures of them in porphyrie as I said before in two
severall couples consulting together. I confesse I never
read this history, but many Gentlemen of very good
account in Venice both Englishmen and others reported
it unto me for an absolute truth. And Sir Henry Wotton
himselfe our Kings most Honourable, learned, and thrise-
worthy Ambassador in Venice counselled me once when he
admitted me to passe with him in his Gondola, (which I
will ever most thankfully acknowledge for one of his
undeserved favours he affoorded me in that noble City)
to take speciall observation of those two couples of men
with fawchons or curtleaxes by their sides, pourtrayed in
the gate wall of the Dukes Palace, as being a thing most
worthy to be considered. Therefore although I have not
read this thing that I have before related in any authenticall
history, I for mine owne part doe as farre forth beleeve
it, having received it from so good Authors, as if I had
found it in a history of sufficient authority.
The last notable thing that occurreth to be considered
in St. Markes place, out of the number of those things
that are properly to be esteemed for parts of the Piazza,
is the Mint of St. Marks. A goodly edifice, and so
cunningly contrived with free stone, bricke, and yron, that
they say there is no timber at all in that whole fabricke,
a device most rare. It is built in the second part of Saint
332
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
Marks street, even in the west row of that building which
is opposite to the west front of the Dukes Palace. At
the entrance of the first gate there stand the statues of
two monstrous great Gyants, opposite to each other with TWO great
clubs in their hands, which worke was most singularly giants carved
done in free stone, by that rare fellow, Titianus of Padua, h Tlttan -
who was not only an excellent painter as I have before
mentioned, but also a very cunning statuary. This Mint
is wonderfull strongly built with free stone, and made all
round about the court with pointed diamond worke, which
yeeldeth a very beautifull shew, with ten dores on each
side of the court ; the upper part of each whereof is made
of yron. And I saw a faire Well in the middest of the
court. Also, there is a pretty gallery in the inside of the
building that goeth round about the court, being tarrassed
and beautified with fine pilasters of white stone. I was
in one higher roome of this Mint, where I saw fourteene Great trea-
marvailous strong- chests hooped with yron, and wrought
c 11 c -i 1-1-1 1 mint.
rull or great massy yron nailes, in which is kept nothing
but money, which consisteth of these three mettals, gold,
silver, and brasse. Two of these chests were about some
foure yardes high, and a yard and more thicke, having
seven locks upon them. Which chests are said to be full
of Chiquineys. In the outward gallery at the entrance
of the chamber I told seventeen more of such yron chests [? I 9 2 -]
which are likewise full of money. So that the number
of all the money chests which I saw at the Mint is one
and thirty. Also in two chambers at the Rialto I saw
two and forty more of such chests full of coyne, the totall
summe whereof is threescore and thirteen. So that it is
thought all the quantity of money contained in these
threescore and thirteene chests doth not amount to so
little as forty millions of duckats.
The Palace of the Duke which was built by Angelus The
Participatius a Duke of Venice in the yeare 809. is aace
absolutely the fairest building that ever I saw, exceeding
all the King of Frances Palaces that I could see, yea his
most delectable Paradise at Fountaine Beleau. Which
333
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Palace indeed for delicate walkes, springs, rivers, and gardens,
surpasses excelleth this, but not for sumptuousnesse of building,
the Kins , . , r 1 i 1 T
of France s wherm this surpasseth the best or his three that saw,
Palaces. namely the Loure, the Tuillerie, and Fountaine Beleau.
This Palace is square, but so, that it is built more in length
then bredth. It is so situate that in the east it hath a
channell running by it, in the west St. Marks place, even
that part of Saint Markes place where that famous con
course of people is twise a day ; in the north the Church
of St. Marke, and in the south the Adriatique gulfe.
The Palace There are also foure stately gates to answere these foure
four times fronts. It hath been five times consumed with fire, yet
c ume y so sumptuously reedified that it never was so faire as at this
present. The gate at the comming in from S. Marks place
is the fairest by many degrees that ever I saw, having a
wonderfull magnificent frontispice. At both the sides of
the gate are two very beautifull rowes of marble pillars
which reach up to the toppe of the gate, and containe no
lesse then thirty foote in heigth as I conjecture. Betwixt
the which are erected the statues of the foure cardinall
Vertues at length made in milke-white alabaster, two in
one side of the gate, and as many in the other. Most of
these pillars are red marble. Directly over the linterne
[p. 193.] of the dore is advanced the winged Lyon in alabaster,
before whom is pourtrayed in alabaster also one of their
The statuary Dukes called Fuscarus, in his ducal ornaments kneeling
of the gate. unto tne Lyon. A little above the toppe of the window
there standeth within a circle of alabaster the statue of a
religious man made also in alabaster as farre as his middle
with a booke in his hand. Above that, even at the very
highest top of all, is advanced the Image of Lady Justice
with a naked sword in one hand, and a ballance in the
other hand, sitting upon a couple of Lyons made of
alabaster. When you are once entred in at the gate you
shal passe through a most magnificent porch before you
The great can come into the Court, which porch is vaulted over,
porch. and hath sixe severall partitions that are distinguished
from each other by sixe faire marble pillars on each side :
334
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
this porch is paved with bricke, and is in length three and
forty paces, and in bredth seven. On both sides of the
inner gate of the porch within the Court are erected two Alabaster
most exquisite statues in alabaster of Adam and Eve naked, st " iues ?
covering their shame with figge leaves. That statue of Eyg
Eve, is done with that singularity of cunning, that it is
reported the Duke of Mantua hath offered to give the
weight of it in gold for the Image, yet he cannot have it.
These are placed right opposite to the statues of Neptune
and Pallas, which are upon the toppe of the staires on the
other side. The architecture over this gate which is within The architec
ts. Palace is exceeding glorious, being adorned with many ture over the
marble pillars, some of white colour, some of red, some of mner S ate -
* changeable. At the toppe of which architecture are
erected about eighteen goodly statues made in alabaster.
The highest whereof holdeth a booke in his hand. The
winged Lyon also is made there againe in alabaster with
the Duke Fuscarus kneeling unto it, as at the comming
in to the gate. When you come into the Court you shall The court of
see many objects of admiration presented unto you, tjie Polace.
especially the east front being the beautifullest that ever
I saw, of an exceeding lofty heigth, even foure stories [p. 194.]
high. This is made all of Istrian marble. At the
entrance into the first gallery St. Marks armes are erected
againe in alabaster over the toppe of the first arch as you
ascend the staires. In this front are two goodly rowes of
windowes, each row contayning eighteene severall. In
every partition betwixt the windowes are wrought many
curious borders, bunches of grapes, branches, and other Curious
variable devices in Istrian marble, which doth wonderfully borders.
grace this east front. Likewise in the same partitions
are exquisitely inlayed in marble certain round pieces of
another kinde of marble for the better ornament of the
worke. These pieces are made of red and blew marble,
which are placed in the middest of the borders I have
spoken of. Againe, the east front in the outside of the
Palace, which looketh towards the channell, is exceeding
* I meane that which we call in Latin versicolor.
335
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The East beautifull, being correspondent to that front in the Court
in matter, though not in forme. For this front hath foure
several! rowes of windowes one above another, each row
contayning foure and twenty windowes. The lower part
of this front is marvailous faire, about the end whereof
neare to the ground, there is a very curious worke made
in the forme of pointed diamonds, like that of the two
formost bulwarks of the Citadel of Milan, that I have
before spoken of, but that this is farre more artificially
done. It is devided by foure severall partitions, each
contayning foure ranks or degrees of that diamond worke.
In this east front are sixe exceeding faire gates which make
a most magnificent shew, both for the stately vaulting of
the stone, being adorned with many exquisite borders and
works ; and for the gates themselves, which are contrived
with many curious devices in timber worke, especially
the upper parts thereof. Of these gates foure are together
in one place, and two in another. Also this eastern part
of the Palace is joyned to the prison which is in the other
[p. 195.] side of the channell by a very faire little gallery made of
Istrian marble, which reacheth aloft over the water, and
is very artificially inserted into the very middle of this
The Wat east f ront o f tne Palace. The west front that looketh to
St. Marks place I have already described in my description
of the second part of St. Marks street, and something
glaunced at the south front which I have not so copiously
described as the west, because those two fronts are
uniforme in building. Only there was one speciall thing
omitted in both those sides, that all that space which is
above the arched galleries to the very toppe of the wall,
is made of square pieces of white and red marble very
finely compacted together ; which indeed would be a most
glorious ornament to the Palace, if the west and south
sides of the wals within the Court were correspondent to
the outsides. For those wals within from the toppe of
the galleries to the very highest part of the wal are made
of bricke, which was the only deformity that I could
perceive in all the Palace. Each of these foresaid wals
336
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
within the Court, hath two severall walkes saving the
west wall, one of them is a high gallery, and the other a
walke beneath, hard by the Court. But the west front
doth want that walke, because it is filled up with chambers
in steed thereof. The principall walke of the Court, The walks in
which is under the east front of the Palace, is vaulted, thc Court -
and beautified with most stately great pillars of white
stone, which are very cunningly wrought, whereof there
are sixe and twenty in that walke, and foure and twenty
faire arches. The distance betwixt the pillars is sixe foot
and halfe. The walke is fourescore and five paces long,
and nineteen foote broade. Also, the other walke in the
south side of the Court towards the Sea, is five and fifty
paces long, and seventeene foote broade, having thirteene
stately arches, and as many great pillars of white stone.
Betwixt every couple of these pillars there is sixe foote
distance. The Court is fourescore paces in length, eight
and forty in bredth, and paved with bricke, as St. Markes [p- !9 6 -]
place neare to it. There is another walke also at the
North end of the Court, arched and beautified with pillars
sutable to those of the East and South side. But it is
but short, because St. Markes Church taketh up a great
part of it. For it is but twenty seven paces long, yet of
equall bredth to the other walkes. Againe, over all these
lower walkes there are faire galleries made above, which Fair galleries
goe round about the foure fronts of the Palace, saving a *?f the
where the long porch at comming in at the first gate, and
St. Marks Church doth take up a good part of the North
side. Betwixt every two pillars of these galleries there
runneth a fine Tarrasse of seven turned pillars more of
alabaster which yeeldeth a very faire shew. These walkes
above have arches & pillars correspondent in number to
those beneath : in the middest of the court there are two Two goodly
very goodly wels, which are about some fifteen paces
distant, the upper part whereof is adorned with a very
faire worke of brasse that incloseth the whole Well,
wherein many pretty images, clusters of grapes, and of
Ivy berries are very artificially carved. There is a faire
c. c. 337 Y
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Pleasant cool
water.
The staircases.
[p. 197.]
Testimony of
King Henry
the Third of
France.
ascent to each of these wels by three marble greeses.
They yeeld very pleasant water. For I tasted it. For
which cause it is so much frequented in the Sommer time,
that a man can hardly come thither at any time in the
afternoone, if the sunne shineth very hote, but he shall
finde some company drawing of water to drinke for the
cooling of themselves.
The staires that leade up to the roomes of the Palace
after you are once within the gate, are passing faire, having
thirty two greeses. The beauty of these staires consisteth
especially in the railes at both sides of them, which are
all of milke white alabaster, and supported with fine little
pillars of the same : also the whole workemanship in the
outside of the stairs is very curiously made of pure
alabaster, with benches of the same matter on both sides
beneath to sit upon. And for the better ornament of these
staires there are erected two most beautifull images of
alabaster at the very top, one of Neptune on the right
hand as you ascend, with a great huge beard, and a Dolphin
under his feete : the other of Pallas on the left hand, with
a crested helmet on her head. Under both is written opus
Jacobi Sansovini. Assoone as you are at the toppe of the
staires entring into the first gallery of the Palace, you
shall see this honourable testimony of Henry the third
of that name King of France, written in the wall opposite
unto you in faire capitall letters, on a piece of marble
richly gilt : Henricus tertius Galliae & Poloniae Rex
Christianissimus accepto de immatura Caroli 9}. Galliae
Regis fratris conjunctissimi morte tristi nuncio, e Polonia
in Franciam ad ineundum regnum haereditarium properans,
Venetias anno Salutis M. D. Lxxiiii. Xiiii. Cal Augusti
accessit, atque ab Aloysio Mocenigo Sereniss. Venetorum
Principe, & omnibus hujus reipub. ordinibus non modo
propter veteris amicitiae necessitudinem, verum etiam ob
singularem de ipsius eximia virtute atque anirm magni-
tudine opinionem, magnificentissimo post hominum
memoriam apparatu, atque alacri Italiae prope universae
summorumque Principum praesertim concursu exceptus
338
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
est, ad cujus rei, gratique regis animi erga hanc rempub.
memoriam sempiternam, Senatus hoc monumentum fieri
curavit. Arnaldo Ferrerio secretioris ejus Consilii parti-
cipe : Regio apud Rempub. Legatio id etiam postulante.
At the top of this monument many pretty devices are
made in free stone, at the sides the statues of two women
in alabaster, under the feete of one of which Alexander
is written, under the others feete, Victoria F. Under al
a goodly Eagle. The floore of this gallery is very faire, The floor of the
being made of a kind of mixt coloured matter, the greatest fi rst S aller y-
part whereof is reddish. But there is one great blemish
in the floore. For a great part of it as you enter from
the staires is chopped and cloven, and very uneven, being
higher in some places then in some, in regard that the
foundation and ground-worke of it underneath doth give
place to his weight. After you have passed a little way in [p. 198.]
this gallery you shall enter into a paire of staires that
leadeth you to divers places of the Palace. You shall
ascend foure severall degrees, till you come to the toppe
of them : all which are sixty seven greeses. Over each
of these degrees is a marveilous rich concamerated or Rick vaulted
vaulted roofe : wherein are many gilt embossings and roc f s -
sundry pictures most excellently drawen. Til I saw these
staires, I thought there had not been so rich a staires in
Christendome as the Kin^ of Frances at the Palace of
O
the Loure, which indeed seemeth fairer then this, because
it is fresher and more newly made, but I hold this to be
as rich and costly as that : onely it sheweth much
auncienter. At both the sides of these staires there runne
up to the top very curious railes made of alabaster, and
supported with pillars of the same. On the left hand as
you goe up to the staires are the Dukes chambers, and The Duke s
other roomes which belong properly to him and his family, chambers.
On the right hand you go to the publique roomes wherein
the Duke and the Senators sit about matters of State.
The roome wherein the Duke doth usually sit in his
throne with his greatest Counsellors, which is commonly
called the Colledge or the Senate house, is a very magni-
339
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Senate
House.
[p. 199.]
The Council
Room.
The great
Council Hall.
The benches of
the Patricians.
ficent and beautifull place, having a faire roofe sumptuously
gilt, and beautified with many singular pictures that repre
sent divers notable histories. At the higher end of this
roome is the Dukes throne, and the picture of Venice
made in the forme of a royal Queene, wearing a crowne
upon her head, and crowning the Duke : This is the place
where the Duke with his noble Peeres treateth about
affaires of state, and heareth the Ambassadors both of
forraine Nations, and of them that are sent from the cities
subject to the Signiory of Venice.
Also I was in another roome not farre from this, which
is nothing so large, but very faire both for the sumptuous-
nesse of the gilt roofe, and the curiosity of the pictures.
In this place the great Councell sitteth, which is called
Consilio di Dieci. Here I saw the picture of the Pope
and the Emperour Carolus Quintus sitting together as
they consulted and concluded matters at Bononia, with the
picture of the Venetian Ambassador saluting them at that
time, and other Ambassadours from other Princes.
After that I went into a third roome, which was the
sumptuousest of all, exceeding spacious, and the fairest
that ever I saw in my life, either in mine owne countrey,
or France, or any city of Italy, or afterward in Germany.
Neither do I thinke that any roome of all Christendome
doth excel it in beauty. This lyeth at the South side
of the Palace, and looketh towards the See : it is called
the great Councell Hall. For there is assembled some
times the whole body of the Councell, which consisteth
of one thousand and sixe hundred persons : there doe
they give their suffrages and voyces for the election of
the Magistrates of al degrees. This Hall is in length
seventy paces, in bredth thirty two : the whole body of
it saving a little that is left for foure walkes (whereof
two are at the sides, and two more at the ends) is filled
up with benches, in number nine, that are very faire and
long. For they reach from one end to the other, except
the little walkes at the ends. On these benches doe the
Patricians sit when they are to debate any weighty matter:
34
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
The South walke that is about these benches is sixteene
foot broad, the rest something narrower : the roofe The roof of the
whereof is of most incomparable beauty, as faire if not Council HalL
fairer then the fairest roofe that is in the Loure, or the
Tuilleries of the King of France in Paris, being wonderfull
richly gilt with many sumptuous and curious borders,
whreof three especially are passing glorious. Of which
those two that are at the ends are round, and the third,
which is the middle, square. All that which is compre
hended within those borders is the curiousest painting that
ever I saw done with such peerelesse singularity and [p- 200 -]
quintessence of arte, that were Apelles alive I thinke it is
impossible for him to excell it. In the first of these
borders, even one of the round ones at the upper end of
the roome, & next to the Dukes throne, is painted the The paintings
picture of the Virgin Mary in marveilous rich ornaments, on the roo f-
with an Angell crowning of her ; and many other very
excellent pictures are contrived in the same. In the next
border, which is square and made in the very middle of
the roofe, is represented the Duke in his Ducal majesty,
accompanied with the greatest Senators and Patricians, in
their red damask long-sleeved gownes, lined with rich
ermins. A little above the Duke is painted the Virgin
Mary againe with a crowne on her head, attended with
two Angels : shee feedes the winged Lyon with a branch
of the Olive tree, by which is signified peace. Many other
very faire pictures are made in the same border. Againe,
in the last border, which is round & at the lower end of
the roome, is painted a goodly flagge or streamer, wherein
S. Markes armes are displayed, and the picture of an Angel
is drawne in the same flagge. Under are armed men
supporting a Queene on their shoulders, whereby is
signified Venice, and the winged Lyon is painted hard
by her. Againe, in the same border is represented a com
pany of naked slaves, with fetters about their legges, and
armour and helmets under their feete ; whereby are meant
the victories and conquests of Venice inthralling her
enemies, and bringing them into slavery and captivity.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Historical
pictures.
[p. 201.]
The Duke s
Throne.
The East wall
painted by
Tintoretto.
Pictures of the
Dukes of
Fenice.
Likewise in a great multitude of prety plots besides, that
are adorned with those gilt workes, are many singular
beautifull pictures drawne, whereof most are of great
battles and skirmishes that the Venetians have had with
their enemies : also the wals round about are very excel
lently painted in all places saving onely one voyde roome
in the North wall, which is toward the Court. These
pictures upon the wals are nothing else but Historicall
descriptions of many auncient matters : as amongst the
rest at the west end towards S. Markes streete, is painted
the history of Pope Alexander the third, in his pontificall
pompe, attended with a great many Cardinals and Senators
of Venice, and under him Frederick Barbarossa alias
^nobarbus the Emperour prostrate upon his knees. At
the East end is the Dukes throne, with two pillars on both
sides thereof gilt very richly : also at the sides of his
throne there are the seates of some of the greatest Senators
which are the assistants of the Duke. Their seats are a
pretty way distant from those long benches that I have
spoken of. All this East wall where the Dukes throne
standeth is most admirably painted. For there is pre
sented paradise, with Christ and the Virgin Mary at the
top thereof, and the soules of the righteous on both sides.
This workemanship, which is most curious and very
delectable to behold, was done by a rare painter called
Tinctoretus. Round about the wals are drawen the
pictures of the Dukes in their Ducall ornaments, according
to their degrees successively one after another, being made
in the highest border of the wall next to the roofe, and
above all the other pictures : these are distinguished one
from another by certaine partitions which doe include a
couple of them together : they goe not about all the foure
wals ; for in the East wall nothing is painted but onely
Paradise, which filleth up all that face of the wall. But
these pictures are made onely in the South, North, and
West wals : in the South, which is towards the sea are made
thirty two pictures, in the North which is towards the
Palace court thirty two more, and at the west end eleven :
342
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
the pictures of the rest of the Dukes to Marino Grimanno,
which was the immediate predecessor of this present Duke
Leonardo Donato, being in number sixteene, are made
in another very sumptuous roome, wherof I will hereafter
speake. At the South side are five goodly windowes, with
three degrees of glasse in them, each containing sixe [p- 202.]
rowes : at the West end two windowes also ; before which
are drawne two curtaines : at the North side two windowes The windows
likewise. In every space betwixt each couple of windowes fs lass -
are drawne many excellent pictures : at the West end this
is written in the wall betwixt the two windowes in capitall
blacke letters upon a ground of gold : Andreas Contareno
Dux qui Clodianae classis Imperator servata patria atrocissi-
mos hostes felicissime debellavit, M. CCC. Lxviii. vixit
postea annos Xiiii.
At the West end of this glorious Councell hall that I
have now described, there is a passage into another most
stately roome, which although it be inferiour unto this in Another
beauty, yet it is very richly adorned : it is in length fifty statel y ro "
three paces, in breadth twenty. At the South end is a
tribunall for some great person to sit in, directly over the
which this poesie is written in capitall blacke letters upon
a ground of Gold, but surely the sense about the beginning
of it is so difficult, and distastful to my understanding, that
I for mine owne part doe not (I confesse) so well relish
it. If thou dost (learned reader) thy capacity is more
pregnant then mine. But when thou art once past (& pro
multis perire malunt quam cum multis) the rest following
is obvious to the understanding of every mean scholler that
understandeth the Latin tongue. But I without altering
the Venetians wordes will put them downe as I find them.
Qui patriae pericula suo periculo expetunt, hi sapientes A hard
putandi sunt, Cum & eum quem debent honorem reipub. inscri P tton -
reddunt, & pro multis perire malunt quam cum multis.
Etenim vehementer est iniquum, vitam quam a natura
acceptam propter patriam conservaverimus, naturae cum
cogat reddere, patriae cum roget non dare. Sapientes
igitur existimandi sunt, qui nullum pro ratrise salute
343
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
periculum vitant ; hoc vinculum est hujus dignitatis qua
fruimur in repub : Hoc fundamentum libertatis, hie fons
sequitatis. Mens & animus & consilium & sententia
[p. 203.] civitatis sita est in legibus. Ut corpora nostra sine mente,
sic ci vitas sine legibus suis partibus, ut nervis ac sanguine,
& membris uti non potest. Legum ministri magistratus,
legum interpretes judices. Legum denique idcirco omnes
servi sumus, ut liberi esse possimus.
Tintoretto s ^.11 the residue of this wall is filled up with the picture of
*L*!tJiut- Christ & the Virgin Mary sitting in judgment, and the
ment _ soules of the elect and reprobate about him. This also
was done by the curious pensill of the foresaid Tinctoretus.
The roofe is very sumptuously gilt, and adorned with
sundry fine pictures ; in the middle whereof are two
square roomes filled with gallant pictures of battailes, and
in the same middle, three round roomes more filled up
with pictures of other skirmishes. In each side of this
middle are made two round places richly gilt, within which
are drawne many excellent pictures likewise : every dis
tance of the wall which is betwixt window and window
round about the roome, is beautified with sundry delicate
The picture of pictures, amongst the rest the picture of the famous battall
the battle of of Lepanto heretofore called Naupactus a maritime towne
Naupactus. Q f Achaia where the Christian fleete got that most glorious
victory of the Turkes as I have before said Anno 1571.
this picture is most artificially done in the East wall.
There is one vacant roome which is not yet filled up in
the side of this East wall hard by the picture of the
battaile of Lepanto. In the West side are foure windows
towards Saint Markes place. Two at the North at the
comming in from up the staires which leade from the
Palace Court, and two more in the East towards the Court.
About the South wall immediately under the roofe, are
made more of the pictures of the Dukes in that manner
as they are in the great Councell hall, and so are continued
in the East wall till the picture of Marino Grimmanno
this Dukes predecessour, of which pictures there are six-
teene as I have before said.
344
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
One thing more there is in this magnificent and
beautifull Palace, which (as I have heard many that have [p. 204.]
seene it report) is the fairest ornament of the whole Palace,
even the armoury, which it was not my fortune to see, The Armoury.
for the which I have often since not a little repented,
because the not seeing of it hath deprived mee of much
worthy matter, that would have added great lustre to this
description of the Dukes Palace. For indeed it is a thing
of that beauty and riches that very fewe have accesse unto
it but great personages, neither can any man whatsoever
be permitted to see it without a speciall mandate under
the hand of one of the Councell of ten. I would advise
any English Gentleman of speciall marke that determineth
to see Venice in his travels, to use all meanes for obtaining
the sight of this roome. For many Gentlemen that have
beene very famous and great travellers in the principall
countries of Christendome, have told me that they never
saw so glorious an armoury for the quantitie thereof, in
the whole course of their travels. Here they say is
marvellous abundance of armour of all sorts, and that
most curiously gilt and enameled, as helmets, shields,
belts, speares, swords, launces : the store being so great
that it is thought it can well arme ten thousand men, and
the beautie so incomparable that no armoury of Christen
dome doth match it. This is said to be the first occasion The occasion of
that they gathered so much armour together to the Dukes the gathering
Palace, according to the relation of certaine English O f thearmour -
Gentlemen of good quality in Venice, from whom I have
derived this ensuing history. A Gentleman of the
Patrician rank that was a man of an ambitious spirit,
intending to depose him that was Duke, and to place
himselfe in the Dukedom, spake privately to every
particular Senator and Patrician of the whole citie to lend
him an armed man, to the end to assist him in a certaine
businesse that he undertook, and to send him to his house
which was neare to the Rialto. This matter he handled
so cunningly, that no 2 Gentlemen whatsoever did know [p. 205.]
of this provision he made for men, though indeed all of
345
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A cunning them understood of it, yet so that every man privately
devtce - and severally had intelligence thereof, but not two or three
in common. For belike he injoyned every Gentleman to
conceale it for a time to himselfe. After he had thus
agreed with all the Gentlemen that each should send him a
man, there came to his house a great multitude well armed
at a certayne houre, with whom he himselfe being likewise
well appointed, marched as their Captaine over the Rialto
bridge towards Saint Markes, not communicating to any
one of them his secret intent. Having thus marched
with his followers through the street called the Merceria,
all the people much wondering at him by the way what
he meant by assembling so great a multitude of armed
men ; as he was upon entering into St. Markes place
through the sumptuous gate where the clocke standeth,
of which I have before spoken, there hapned a very
disastrous accident that confounded and frustrated his
A project whole designement. For a certaine maide that looked out
confounded by o f fa & wmc j ow hard by the gate to see the company, had
pestle ^7 chance a pestell of a mortar in her hand, with which she
was powning in the said mortar at the very instant that
they passed by ; and whereas she looked out of the
window with other, to see what was doing, her pestell
which she then held in her hand, not intending any hurt
with it, fell casually much against her will upon the head
of the Ring-leader of this company, which strooke out his
braines, and so by that dismall chance hee died in the place,
being defeated of the effect of his project, for the
execution whereof he assembled so many armed men ;
otherwise by force of armes hee had eritred with his whole
troupe of men into the Sala, where the Duke sat about
the publicke affairs with the other Senators ; and had
surprized and massacred them al, and placed himselfe in
the Dukedome. The window through the which the
[p. 206.] maide looked when her pestell fell on the Captaines head
is yet shewed for a monument neare to the gate, at the
entring of Saint Markes. After that time his Palace
which was near to the Rialto, was alienated from his
346
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
posterity, and converted to a shambles which I saw. Upon
this occasion, the Senate thought good to furnish that
Sala wherein this bloudy exploite should have been acted,
with convenient armour to serve for their defence if the
like occasion should ever happen againe. The Palace was The Palace
heretofore covered with lead, but because it hath been Mtdmih
often burnt, it is now covered with brasen plates, that
serve in steede of tile.
Thus much concerning the Dukes Palace.
NExt unto the Dukes Palace the beautifull Church of The Church of
Saint Marke doth of its owne accord as it were offer
it selfe now to be spoken off. Which though it be but
little, yet it is exceeding rich, and so sumptuous for the
statelinesse of the architecture, that I thinke very few in
Christendome of the bignesse doe surpasse it. It is
recorded, that it had the first beginning of the foundation
in the yeare 829. which was full twenty yeares after the
building of the Dukes Palace adjoyning unto it ; many
pillars, and other notable matter being brought thither
from Athens, and divers other places of Greece, for the
better grace of the fabricke. And it is built in that
manner that the modell of it doth truly resemble our
Saviours Crosse. Truly, so many are the ornaments of
this glorious Church, that a perfect description of them
will require a little volume. The principall whereof I
will relate by way of an epitome, according to that slender
and inelegant manner that I have hitherto continued this
discourse of Venice. The pavement of this Church is so Pavement of
passing curious, that I thinke no Church in Christendome cfiec ^ er
can shew the like. For the pavement of the body of the
Church, the Quire, and the walkes round about before [p- 2 7-l
you come within the body, are made of sundry little pieces
of Thasian, Ophiticall, and Laconicall marble in checker
worke, and other most exquisite conveyances, and those,
of many severall colours, that it is very admirable and
rare to behold, the rarenesse such that it doth even amaze
all strangers upon their first view thereof. The west
347
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The West front towards St. Marks street is most beautifull, having
five severall partitions, unto which there belong as many
brasen dores, whereof the middle, through which they
usully go into the Church, is made of solid brasse, the
other foure in the forme of latteise windowes. This front,
is very stately adorned with beautifull pillars of marble,
wherof in one part of the front, I told a hundred and
two and fifty, in the higher two and forty. In all one
hundred fourescore and fourteene. Some greater, some
lesser. Some of one colour and some of another. At the
sides of the great gate are eight rich pillars of porphyrie,
foure in one side, and as many in another, whereof each
would be worth twenty pound with us in England. Over
the toppe of this middle gate is to be scene a very ancient
The brazen and remarkable monument, foure goodly brasen * horses
horses on the m ade o f Corinthian mettall, and fully as great as the life.
Some say they were cast by Lysippus that singular statuary
of Alexander the great above three hundred years before
Christ ; some say that the Romans made them at what
time Hiero King of Syracuse triumphed of the Parthians,
and placed them in a certaine arch that they dedi
cated to him. It is reported that Tyridates King of
Armenia bestowed them on the Emperour Nero, when
he was entertained by him in Rome with such pompous
magnificence, as is mentioned by Tacitus and Suetonius.
And that Constantine the Great brought them from
Rome to Constantinople, and therehence they were lastly
brought to Venice by the Venetians, when they possessed
Constantinople. At what time they brought many other
[p. 208.] notable things from that City, for the better ornament
both of their publique and private buildings. These
horses are advanced on certaine curious and beautifull
pillars, to the end they may be the more conspicuous and
eminent to be seene of every person. Of their forefeete,
there is but one set on a pillar, and that is of porphyrie
marble, the other foote he holdeth up very bravely in his
* These horses were brought to Venice in the time of their Duke
Petrus Zanus which was about the yeare of our Lord 1206.
348
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
pride, which maketh an excellent shew. The two hinder
feete are placed upon two prety pillars of marble, but not
porphyrie. Two of these horses are set on one side of
that beautifull alabaster border full of imagery and other
singular devices, which is advanced over the middle great
brasse gate at the comming into the Church, and the other
two on the other side. Which yeeldeth a marvailous
grace to this frontispice of the Church, and so greatly they
are esteemed by the Venetians, that although they have A noble offer.
beene offered for them their weight in gold by the King
of Spaine, as I have heard reported in Venice, yet they
will not sell them.
I observed another very memorable monument within the
first great gate, which is betwixt that gate and the opposite
brasen gate at the going into the body of the Church,
which is also made of massy brasse, namely a great stone
formed and cut according to the fashion of diamond pavier,
in the middle whereof is made a prety checker worke
garnished with divers little pieces of marble of sundry
colours. On this little worke which is in the middest
of the said stone did Fredericus \ Barbarossa the
Emperour lay downe his necke as a foote-stoole to Pope A footstool for
Alexander the third to treade upon it, Anno 1166. who the Pope.
indeed (as sundry historians doe report) laid one of his
feet upon it, and most blasphemously and prophanely
abused a notable place of Scripture, which he tooke out
of one of the Psalmes of David, even this : Super Aspidem
& Basiliscum ambulabis, & caput Draconis conculcabis.
The Pope pronounced it in that manner as if it were
applied properly and peculiarly to his owne person, when [p. 209.]
he did so tyrannically insult upon the good Emperour,
though the holy Prophet meant only Christ, and his
vanquishing of the Devill and the power of hell. It is
| Sebastianus Zani was then duke of Venice when this hapned.
I 1 have read in histories of two examples like unto this. The one of
the Emperour Velerian who subjected himselfe in the same manner
to Sapor King of Persia, and the other of Bajazeth the great Turke who
did the like to Tamberlan.
349
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Marquess
ofMisnia.
Picture of
S. Mark.
[p. 210.]
Pillars
brought from
Jerusalem.
written that the Emperour should say unto the Pope when
his foote was upon his necke, Non tibi sed Petro. And
that the Pope should reply thus : Et mihi, & Petro. I
have read that whereas many Princes stood by the
Emperour when he was thus prostrate at the Popes feete,
one amongst the rest was Theodorus Marquesse of Misnia,
who being exceedingly inflamed with anger at the sight
of the Popes intollerable insolency, ranne to the Emperour
with a kind of threatning gesture, and eyes as it were
sparkling fire through wrath, to the end to take him up
from the ground ; whereupon the Pope being much
affrighted insinuated himselfe to the Emperour with kisses,
and flattering embracings, in so much that he would not
suffer himselfe to be pulled away from the Emperour, till
he had throughly compounded upon termes of security.
Truly it gave me no small contentment to see this notable
monument of the Popes most barbarous and unchristian
tyrannic, because I had much read of it in many histories
before. Over the gate as you passe into the body of the
Church, is to be scene the picture of St. Marke (if at the
least a man may properly call such a piece of worke a
picture) made most curiously with pieces of marble (as I
conceive it) exceeding little, all gilt over in a kinde of
worke very common in this Church, called Mosaicall
worke. He is made looking up to heaven with his
hands likewise elevated, and that wearing of a marvailous
rich cope, under whom this is written in faire letters : Ubi
diligenter inspexeris, artemque & laborem Francisci &
Valerii Zucati Venetorum fratrum agnoveris, turn demum
judicato. Above which inscription is added the yeare of
our Lord, M. D. XLV.
Also, there is another most auncient monument to be
scene in the walke betwixt the five gates at the entrance,
and the body of the Church, certaine goodly pillars in
number eight, foure at one gate, and as many at another,
two on each side of the gate. These are reported to have
beene brought from the house of Pontius Pilate in Jeru
salem, first from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and there-
35
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
hence to Venice. They have beene so cracked and broken
in the carriage that there is no weight put upon the Capi-
tella, or Chapiters of them, as upon the other pillars heads,
for fear least they should be broken in pieces. Each of Veined
these pillars is distinguished with sundry colours of marble, mar ^ e -
having many white and blacke veines which doe make a
very faire shew, and the Chapiters or heads of them are
very curiously wrought with dainty workes in white stone.
On the right hand of the Church as you goe in, even
at the south corner, there is a very faire little Chappel A fair little
having a sumptuous Altar that is adorned with a very cha P el -
curious roofe, and two goodly pillars of Parian marble at
the sides, of wonderfull faire workemanship, wherein are
finely made clusters of grapes, and other borders exceeding
well expressed. At both the endes of the Altar are made
two great Lyons in porphyrie, whereof that on the right
hand leaneth on a little child, the other on the left hand on
a sheepe. Over the Altar these Images are made in
brasse, one of our Lady and Christ in her armes, the
second which is on the right hand of her, St. John Baptist
in his Eremitical habits ; the third, which is on the left
hand, St. Peter with his keyes in his hands. In the middle
of this Chappel there is a sumptuous brasse Tombe of a A cardinal s
certaine Cardinal, at the hither side whereof this Epitaph tomb -
is written. Joanni Baptistae Zeno Pauli secundi ex sorore
nepoti S S, Romanse Ecclesise Cardinali meritisimo Senatus
Venetus cum propter eximiam ipsius sapientiam, turn
singularem pietatem ac munificentiam in Patriam quam
amplissimo Legato moriens prosequutus est. M. P. P. C.
aetatis anno Lxiii. obiit. M. D. I. die viii. Maii, hora xii. [p. 211.]
Upon the Tombe, is made at length, the whole proportion
of his body with his Cardinals habits. By the sides of
the Tombe three little Images also are made in brasse.
The pavement of this Chappel is made of diamond worke
with marble of divers colours, and at the entrance a two
leafed brasen gate. The inner walles of the ; Church are
| This is the same that was called of the auncient writers Opus
musiuum. Adrian Turnebus Adversa. lib. I. cap. 17.
35 1
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Pictures in
wsatc tootk.
Walhandroofs
of mosaic
beautified with a great multitude of pictures gilt, and
contrived in Mosaical worke, which is nothing else but
a p ret y k mc [ o f picturing consisting altogether of little
pieces and very small fragments of gilt marble, which are
square, and halfe as broade as the naile of a mans finger ;
of which pieces there concurreth a very infinite company
to the making of one of these pictures. I never saw any
of this kind of picturing before I came to Venice, nor ever
either read or heard of it, of which Saint Marks Church
is full in every wall and roofe. It is said that they
imitate the Grecians in these Mosaical workes. For indeed
in the Greekish Church in this City, whereof I will here
after speake, I saw many of them, not only their pictures
or effigies (for I doubt whether picture be a proper word
to expresse the matter, because it is not done with the
pensill) are made of this worke, but also all the walles
within side, and the round roofes of the Church within,
whereof there are eleven in all. One over the middle
of the body of the Church, from which is let downe a
goodly brasen candlesticke. Three over another part of
the body which is neare to the Quire, and one more over
LP- 2I2 -J
. , n r i i
the outside, and doe make very goodly raire globes as it
were, seene a prety way off which yeeld a great grace to
the Church. Also, at the west end of the Church in the
walke which is without the body, are three more of those
Mosaical round roofes full of those pictures or effigies as
the other within the Church, and another square, of a
greater heigth then the rest, wherein is painted the Crosse
o f Christ, not with Christ upon it, but only the Crosse
alone by it selfe with a thorny crowne upon it.
And foure Angels by the sides of it : And a little way
farther two companies of Angels more, one on the right
hand of the Crosse, and another on the left, with Lilies
in their hands. Againe, in the north side of the Church
wherein is another of those walkes without the body, are
three more of those Mosaical vaulted roofes full of
which doe make up the full number of the
35?
pctures,
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
foresaid eleven. Most of these pictures have either
names which expresse the same, or Latin Poesies in verse,
or both made by them.
Over the middle of the body is hanged a kind of silke A silk mantle.
mantle, fairely wrought with needle worke in gold and
silver, having five flaps that hang downe at the end thereof.
In the middle of it this is written in golden letters :
Verona fidelis, and above, the yeare of our Lord M. D.
xxii.
I saw in the body of the Church a very rich stone called 4 r ufl a a( e-
an Agat, about two foote long, and as broad as the palme
of a mans hand, which is valued at tenne thousand duckats
at the least. This is on the right hand of the Church as
you goe into the Quire from the West gate. The corners
whereof I saw broken ; which I heard happened by this
meanes. A certaine Jew hid himselfe all night in a corner J ew s cunning.
of this Church, and when all the gates were locked, he
tried to pul up the stone with pinsers and some other
instruments ; but he failed in his enterprise, because the
stone was so fast souldered into the ground that he could
not with all his cunning pull it up ; being apprehended
in the Church the next morning before he could make an
evasion, he was presently hanged for his labour in St.
Markes place.
On the left hand as you goe into the Quire, is a A fair pulpit.
very faire Pulpit supported with eleven rich pillars of
changeable-coloured marble : at the toppe whereof there
is a round place supported with sixe pillars more of
Porphyrie. Also right opposite unto this Pulpit on the [? 2I 3-]
right hand is another faire round thing made in the forme
of a Pulpit, wherein the Singing men do sing upon
Sundaies and festivall daies. This roome is supported
with nine pillars more of very curious marble.
Over the entrance of the Quire is made the Image of
Christ hanging on the Crosse, and, seven brasen images
on each side of him. The high Altar is very faire, but
especially that inestimable rich table heretofore brought
from Constantinople, which is above the Altar : that table
c. c. 353 z
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The high is never shewed but onely upon some speciall feast day,
altar. being most commonly covered by certaine devices that
they have, and another meaner table standeth usually upon
it. This table is the fairest that ever I saw, which indeed
I saw but once, onely upon the feast of our Ladies assump
tion, which was the fift day of August : it is marvellous
richly wrought in gold, and silver, with many curious
little images, such as we call in Latin imagunculse or
icunculse. And the upper part of it most sumptuously
adorned with abundance of pretious stones of great value
that doe exceedingly beautifie the worke. I think it is
worth at the least ten thousand pounds. Over this Altar
Ophitical i s a most beautiful concamerated roofe of rich *Ophiticall
marble. marble, and supported with foure passing faire pillars at
the corners made of Parian marble, wherein are very
artificially represented many histories of the old and new
Testament. In this Quire I saw two and twenty goodly
Candlestickes, hanged up with chains, the fairest that ever
I saw. At both sides of it are two exceeding faire payre
The pair of of Organes, whose pipes are silver, especially those on the
organs. ] e ft hand as you come in from the body of the Church,
having the brasen winged Lyon of S. Marks on the top,
and the images of two Angels at the sides : under them
this is written in faire golden letters, Hoc rarissimum opus
Urbanus Venetus F.
There are three very notable and auncient monuments
[p. 214.] kept in this Church, besides those that I have above
mentioned, being worthy to be seene by an industrious
traveller, if that be true which they report of it. The
5. Mark s first is the body of S. Marke the Evangelist and Patron
body. O f Venice, which was brought hither by certaine Merchants
from Alexandria in Egypt (where he lived a long time,
and died a glorious martyr of Jesus Christ) in the year
810. To whose honor they built this Church about nine-
teene yeares after, and made him the Patron of their Citie.
*This word is derived from the Greeke 6</>ts which signifieth a
Serpent because the forme of Serpents is most curiously expressed in
this kinde of marble by the hand of nature herselfe.
354
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
The second, his Gospell written in Greeke with his owne S. Mark s
hand : the sight of these two worthy things to my great Gospel.
griefe I omitted. The third is the picture of the Virgin
Mary, which they say was made by S. Luke the Evan
gelist : but that is altogether uncertaine whether Luke 5. Luke s
were a painter or no. That he was a Physition we reade P lciure f the
in the holy \ Scriptures, but not that he was a painter.
This picture is adorned with exceeding abundance of
pretious stones, and those of great worth ; and the hue
of it doth witnesse that it is very auncient. It was my
hap to see it twise ; once when it was presented all the
day upon the high Altar of this Church, upon the great
feast day of our Ladies assumption, at what time I saw
that rich table also, whereof I have before spoken.
Secondly when it was carried about St. Markes place in
a solemne procession, in the which the Duke, the Senators,
the Gentlemen of the Citie, the Clergie, and many other
both men and women walked. This was in the time of
a great drougth, when they prayed to God for raine. For
they both say and beleeve that this picture hath so great Venetians
virtue, as also that of Padua, whereof I have before su P eriti *>>
spoken, that whensoever it is carried abroad in a solemne
procession in the time of a great drougth it will cause
rain to descend from heaven either before it is brought
backe into the Church, or very shortly after. For mine
owne part I have had some little experience of it, and
therefore I will censure the matter according as I finde [P- 2I 5-1
it. Surely that either pictures or images should have
that vertue to draw droppes from heaven, I never read
either in Gods word, or any other authenticke Author.
So that I cannot be induced to attribute so much to the
vertue of a picture, as the Venetians do, except I had
seene some notable miracle wrought by the same. For
it brought no drops at all with it : onely about two
dayes after it rained (I must needes confesse) amaine.
But I hope they are not so superstitious to ascribe that
to the vertue of their picture. For it is very likely it
t Col. 4. 1 4.
355
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Treasury
ofS. Mark.
[p. 216.]
Inestimable
riches.
would have rained at that time, though they had not at
all carried their picture abroad. Therefore, except it doth
at other times produce greater effects then it did when
I was in Venice, in my opinion that religious relique of
our Ladies picture, so devoutly worshipped and honoured
of the Venetians, hath no more vertue in working miracles
then any other that is newly come forth of the painters
shoppe.
The last notable thing that is in the Church with relation
whereof I will shut up this Discourse of S. Markes
Church, is the treasure of Saint Marke kept in a certaine
Chappell in the south side of the Church neere to the
stately porch of the Dukes Palace. But here methinks
I use the figure hysteron proteron, in that I conclude
my tract of St. Markes Church with that which was
worthiest to be spoken of at the beginning. For this
treasure is of that inestimable value, that it is thought no
treasure whatsoever in any one place of Christendome may
compare with it, neyther that of St. Denis in France, which
I have before described, nor St. Peters in Rome, nor that
of Madona de Loretto in Italy, nor that of Toledo in
Spaine, nor any other. Therefore I am sorry I must
speake so little of it. For I saw it not though I much
desired it, because it is very seldome shewed to any
strangers but only upon St. Markes day ; therefore that
little which I report of it is by the tradition of other men,
not of mine owne certaine knowledge. Here they say
is kept marveilous abundance of rich stones of exceeding
worth, as Diamonds, Carbuncles, Emerauds, Chrysolites,
Jacinths, and great pearles of admirable value : also three
Unicorns homes ; an exceeding great Carbuncle which
was bestowed upon the Senate by the Cardinall Grimannus,
and a certaine Pitcher adorned with great variety of
pretious stones, which Usumcassanes King of Persia
bestowed upon the Signiory, with many other things of
wonderful value, which I must needes omit, because I saw
none of them.
Thus much concerning S. Markes Church.
35 6
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
THere is near unto the Dukes Palace a very faire The town
prison, the fairest absolutely that ever I saw, being P rtion -
divided from the Palace by a little channell of water, and
againe joyned unto it, by a merveilous faire little gallery
that is inserted aloft into the middest of the Palace wall
East-ward. I thinke there is not a fairer prison in all
Christendome : it is built with very faire white ashler
stone having a little walke without the roomes of the
prison, which is forty paces long and seven broad. For I
meated it : which walke is fairly vaulted over head, and
adorned with seven goodly arches, each whereof is sup
ported with a great square stone pillar. The outside of
these pillars is curiously wrought with pointed diamond
worke. In the higher part of the front towards the water
there are eight pretty pillars of free-stone, betwixt which
are seven iron windowes for the prisoners above to looke
through : In the lower part of the prison where the
prisoners do usually remaine, there are six windows, three
on each side of the dore, whereof each hath two rowes of
great iron barres, one without and the other within : each
row containing ten barres that ascend in heigth to the
toppe of the window, and eighteene more that crosse those
tenne. So that it is altogether impossible for the prisoners [p. 217.]
to get forth. Betwixt the first row of windows in the
outside, and another within, there is a little space or an
entry for people to stand in that will talke with the
prisoners, who lie within the inner windowes that are but
single barred. The West side of the prison which is neare
to the Dukes Palace is very curiously wrought with pointed
diamond worke, with three rowes of crosse-barred iron
windowes in it, whereof each row containeth eleven
particulars : it is reported that this prison is so contrived,
that there are a dozen roomes under the water, and that A watery
the water doth oftentimes distill into them from above, annoyance.
to the great annoyance of the prisoners that lodge there.
Before this prison was built, which was not (as I heard
in Venice) above ten years since, the towne prison was
under the Dukes Palace, where it is thought certain
357
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Gunpowder prisoners being largely hired by the King of Spaine, con-
plot. spired together to blow up the Palace with gun-powder,
as the Papists would have done the Parliament house in
England. Whereupon the Senate thought good having
executed those prisoners that were conspirators in that
bloudy desseigne, to remove the rest to another place,
and to build a prison in the place where this now standeth.
Thus much of the prison.
The Arsenal. T Was at the Arsenall which is so called, quasi ars
A navalis, because there is exercised the Art of making
tackling, and all other necessary things for shipping.
Certainely I take it to be the richest and best furnished
storehouse for all manner of munition both by Sea and
Land not only of all Christendome, but also of all the
world, in so much that all strangers whatsoever are moved
with great admiration when they contemplate the situation,
the greatnesse, the strength, and incredible store of pro
vision thereof ; yea I have often read that when as in the
[p. 218.] time of Charles the fifth a certaine great Prince that hapned
to lie in Venice, one Albertus Marquesse of Guasto the
Emperours Generall of his forces in Italy, came into this
Arsenall : he was so desirous to survay all the particular
furnitures and tacklings thereof, that hee spent a whole day
in viewing the same, and in the evening when he went
The eighth forth, being rapt with admiration, he called it the eight
miracle of the miracle of the world, and said, that were he put to his
choice to be lord either of foure of the strongest cities
of Italy or of the Arsenall, he would preferre the Arsenall,
before them. It is situate at the East end of the citie, in
compasse two miles, and fortified with a strong wall that
goeth round about it, in which are built many faire towers
for the better ornament thereof. There are continually
one thousand five hundred men working in it, unto whom
there is paid every weeke two thousand crownes which doe
amount to sixe hundred pound sterling, in the whole yeare
twenty eight thousand and sixe hundred pound. Also
those workemen that have wrought so long in the Arsenall
353
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
that they are become decrepit and unable to worke any
longer, are maintained in the same at the charge of the
citie during their lives. Here are alwaies kept two
hundred and fifty gallies, each having a severall roome
fairely roofed over to cover and defend it from the injury
of the weather, and fifty more are alwaies at Sea. The The richest
fairest gaily of all is the Bucentoro, the upper parts S alle y f" 11
whereof in the outside are richly gilt. It is a thing of
marvailous worth, the richest gallic of all the world ;
for it cost one hundred thousand crownes which is
thirty thousand pound sterling. A worke so exceeding
glorious that I never heard or read of the like in any
place of the world, these onely excepted, viz : that of
Cleopatra, which she so exceeding sumptuously adorned
with cables of silke and other passing beautifull ornaments ;
and those that the Emperour Caligula built with timber
of Ceder and poupes and sternes of ivory. And lastly
that most incomparable and peerelesse ship of our Gracious [p. 219.]
Prince called the Prince Royall, which was launched at
Wollige about Michaelmas last, which indeed doth by
many degrees surpasse this Bucentoro of Venice, and any
ship else (I believe) in Christendome. In this galley the
Duke launceth into the sea some few miles off upon the
Ascention day, being accompanied with the principall The betrothal
Senators and Patricians of the citie, together with all the f the sea -
Ambassadors and personages of greatest marke that happen
to be in the citie at that time. At the higher end there
O
is a most sumptuous gilt Chaire for the Duke to sit in,
at the backe whereof there is a loose boord to be lifted
up, to the end he may looke into the Sea through that
open space, and throw a golden ring into it, in token that
he doth as it were betroth himselfe unto the sea, as the
principall Lord and Commander thereof. A ceremony
that was first instituted in Venice by Alexander the third
Pope of that name, when Sebastianus Zanus was Duke,
1 1 74. unto whom hee delivered a golden ring from his
own finger, in token that the Venetians having made warre
upon the Emperour Fredericke Barbarossa in defence of
359
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
his quarrell, discomfited his fleete at Istria, and he com
manded him for his sake to throw the like golden ring into
the sea every yeare upon Ascention day during his life,
establishing this withall, that all his successors should doe
the like ; which custome hath been ever since observed
to this day. The rowers of the galley sit in a lower part
thereof, which are in number forty two ; the images of
Gilt statues, five slaves are most curiously made in the upper part of
the galley, and richly gilt standing near to the Dukes
seate on both sides. A little from them are made twenty
gilt statues more in the same row where the other five
stand, which is done at both sides of the galley. And
whereas there are two long benches made in the middle
for great personages to sit on, over each of these benches
[p. 220.] are erected tenne more gilt images which doe yeeld a
wondrous ornament to the galley. At the end of one of
these middle benches is erected the statue of George
Scanderbeg. Castriot alias Scanderbeg Despot of Servia, & King of
Epirus, who fought many battels for the faith of Christ
and the Christian religion against the Turkes, of whom
he got many glorious victories. His statue is made all
at length according to the full proportion of a mans body,
and sumptuously gilt. Right opposite unto which there
standeth the image of Justice which is likewise gilt, at
the very end of the galley holding a sword in her hand.
This galley will contain twelve hundred & twenty persons.
At each end without are made two exceeding great winged
Lyons as beautifully gilt as the rest. It is said that the
Furnishings Arsenall is able to furnish of all men both by sea and
for 150,000 land about a hundred and fifty thousand. I was in one of
men - their armouries which containeth three severall roomes,
whereof the first armour onely for sea men, so much as
would arme men enough to furnish fifty Galleys : the
second for sixe hundred footemen : there I saw abundance
of helmets, shields, breastplates, swords, &c. Their
swordes were prettily placed upon some dores opposite to
each other, where some were set compasse-wise, some
athwart and a crosse, some one way and some another,
^60
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
with such witty and pretty invention, that a man could
not but commend the deviser thereof. I went to their
places where they make their Anchors, and saw some
making : also I saw great peeces of Ordinance making, Mating of
whereof they have in the whole Arsenal at the least sixe ordnance.
thousand, which is more then twelve of the richest
armouries of al Christendome have. Also I was in
other roomes where was much canvasse and thred,
and many other necessaries to make sailes. In one
large roome whereof there is prettily painted in a
wall the History of the warres betwixt the Venetians
under the conduct of their Generall Captaine Barthel-
mew Coleon of Bergomo, and the Emperor at Padua, [? 22I
where I saw their armies couragiously confronting
each other, and the Imperialists by certaine witty strata
gems that Barthelmew Coleon devised, were shamefully
put to flight. Also I saw their roome wherein they make
nothing but ropes and cables, others wherein they make
onely Oares, and others also wherein they make their
Anchors. Many other notable things were to be seene
here, as many spoiles taken from the Turkes at the battell Spoils taken
of Lepanto, Anno 1571, &c. which by reason of a certaine f rom the
sinister accident that hapned unto mee when I was in the s
Arsenall, I could not see.
I have read that the Arsenall was extremely wasted The Arsenal
with fire in the time of their Duke Peter Lauredanus, conium ^
which was about the yeare 1568, much of their munition
being utterly consumed to nothing, and that the noyse
of the fire was so hideous that it was heard at the least
forty miles from Venice. But since that time it hath been
so well repaired that I think it was never so faire as at
this present. Thus much of the Arsenall.
I ^He Church dedicated to St. John and Paul which The chunk of
A belongeth to the Dominican Friers, is a very glorious
worke both without and within. For the whole front
of it is built of pure alabaster, wherein are contrived many
curious borders, Images, Lyons, as the armes of St. Marke,
361
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Monuments of &c. Within it is adorned with sundry monuments of
the Dukes. worthy persons, especially of their Dukes, whereof many
doe lye interred here. Amongst the rest the body of that
famous and well deserving Prince Leonardus Lauredanus
Duke of Venice, doth lye under a marvailous beautifull
and rich gilt Altar, which is garnished with many religious
pictures. On the right hand of which Altar as you come
into the Quire, there is a passing faire monument erected
to the honour of the said Duke with foure very lofty pillars
[p. 222.] O f alabaster, the base whereof is made of touch stone.
In the middle betwixt these two paire of pillars is erected
the statue of the Duke in alabaster in his Ducal ornaments,
with a woman on one side of him carrying of a flagge, and
a man on the other bearing of a target, and a speare under
the statue of him. There I read this Epitaph written in
great letters of gold upon a piece of touch stone.
D. O. M.
Leonardo Lauredano Principi totius fere Europas urbium
Cameracensi foedere in rem Venetam conspirantium furore
compresso, Patavio obsidione levato, fortunis & filiis pro
communi salute objectis, terrestris imperii post acerbis-
simum bellum pristina amplitudine vindicata, dignitate &
pace reipub. restituta, eaque difficillimo tempore conservata
& optime gesta, Pio, Forti, Prudenti Leonardus abnepos
P. C. vixit annos Ixxxiii. in Ducatu xix. obiit. M.D. XIX.
There is an exceeding faire chappell in this Church situate
at the north side thereof, which is beautified with a rich
Altar, many faire tables, and a passing glorious roofe most
richly gilt. Neare to this chappel there is erected the
Image of a gallant Knight gilt, and sitting on horse-backe.
Under whom this Epitaph is written on the side of a
stony coffin. Leonardum Pratum militem fortissimum &
ex provocatione semper victorem, Praefectum Ferdinandi
Junioris & Frederici Regum Neapolitanorum, ob virtutem
terrestribus navalibusque praeliis, felicissimis, magnis,
clarissimisque rebus pro Veneta repub. gestis, pugnantem
ab hoste cassum Leonardus Lauredanus Princeps & amplis-
362
Epitaph of
Duke
Leonardus
Lauredanus.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
simus ordo Senatorms prudentiae & fortitudinis ergo statua
hac equestri donandum censuit.
In the south side of the Church is erected another statue of
gilt statue of a certaine noble Prince called Ursinus, on PrinceUnino.
horse-backe, as the other, with this Epitaph underneath
upon the side of a stony coffin. Nicolao Ursino Nolae
Petilianique Principi longe clarissimo, Senensium Floren-
tinique populi H. Sixti Innocentii, Alexandri Pont. Max.
Ferdinandi Alphonsique Junioris Reg. Neapolitanorum [p. 223.]
Imp. felicissimo, Venetae demum reipub. per xv. annos
magnis clarissimisque rebus gestis, novissime a gravissima
omnium obsidione Patavio conservato, virtutis ac fidei
singularis. S.V.M.H.P.P. obiit aetatis anno Ixviii.
M.D.IX. Againe, in another corner of the Church,
about the south end, there is a prety monument erected Monument to
to the honour of an English Baron even the Lord Windsor, LordWindur.
Grandfather to the right Honourable Thomas Lord
Windsor now living. At the toppe whereof there
standeth a Pyramis of red marble. And this Epitaph
is written under. Odoardo Windsor Anglo, Illus.
parentibus orto, qui dum religionis quadam abundantia,
vitas probitate, & suavitate morum omnibus charus
clarusque vitam degeret, immatura morte correpto, cele-
berrimis exequiis decorate, Georgius Lewhnor affinis poni
curavit. obiit anno D.M.D. Lxxiiii. die Mensis Januarii
xxiiii. aetatis suae xxxxii.
Towards the west end of the Church, but in the south A moving
wall, I read this Epitaph written in golden letters upon epitaph.
a peece of touch stone, over which is erected the statue
of a grave old Venetian Gentleman in alabaster, who
was flea d amongst the Turks with no lesse cruelty than
we reade St. Barthelmew the Apostle was amongst
the Ethnicks, in Albania a city of the great Armenia,
or Manes the Heretique amongst the Persians. Truly
I could not reade it with dry eyes, neither do I thinke
any Christian to be so hard hearted, except he hath ferum
& aes triplex circa cor (to use those words of the Lyrick
Poet) that can reade the same without either effusion of
363
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
teares, or at the least some kinde of relenting, if he doth
understand the Latin tongue. This following epitaph
(I say) did I reade there.
D. O. P.
M. Antonii Bragedini, dum pro fide, & patria bello Cyp-
rio Salaminse contra Turcas constanter fortiterque curam
Principem sustineret, longa obsidione victi a perfida hostis
[p. 224.] manu, ipso vivo ac intrepide sufferente detracta pellis
anno Sal M. D. Lxxi.xv. Kal. Sept. Antonii fratris opera
& impensa Byzantio hue advecta, atque hie a Marco,
Hermolao, Antonioque filiis pientissimis ad summam Dei,
patrine, paternique nominis gloriam sempiternam posita.
Anno Salut. M.D.Lxxxxvi. vixit annos xxxxvi.
A Colossus of In a greene yard adjoyning hard to this Church, there
alabaster. i s erected a goodly Colossus all of alabaster, supported
with sixe faire pillars of the same, on the toppe whereof
the statue of Barthelmew Coleon (who had his name From
having three stones, for the Italian word Coglione doth
signifie a testicle) is advanced in his complet armour on
horse-backe. His horse and himselfe made correspondent
to the full proportion of a living man and horse, and
both made of brasse, and very beautifully gilt al over.
At the east end of the Colossus this Elogium is written.
Bartholomeo Coleono Bergomensi ob militare imperium
optime gestum S. C. At the west end this is written.
Joanne Mauro & Marino Venerio Curatoribus anno Salu.
M. CCCC.Lxxxxv.
No use for I saw but one horse in all Venice during the space
hones m o f s j xe wee k es that I made my aboade there, and that
was a little bay nagge feeding in this Church-yard of St.
John and Paul, whereat I did not a little wonder, because
I could not devise what they should doe with a horse
in such a City where they have no use for him. For
you must consider that neither the Venetian Gentlemen
nor any others can ride horses in the streets of Venice
as in other Cities and Townes, because their streets being
both very narrow and slippery, in regard they are all paved
3 6 4
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
with smooth bricke, and joyning to the water, the horse
would quickly fall into the river, and so drowne both
himselfe and his rider. Therefore the Venetians do use
Gondolaes in their streets in steede of horses, I meane
their liquid streets, that is, their pleasant channels. So
that I now finde by mine owne experience that the [? 22 5-]
speeches of a certaine English Gentleman (with whom A palpable
I once discoursed before my travels) a man that much fi ctlon -
vaunted of his observations in Italy, are utterly false.
For when I asked him what principal! things he observed
in Venice, he answered me that he noted but little of
the city. Because he rode through it in post. A fiction
as grosse and palpable as ever was coyned.
Thus much concerning the Church dedicated to S. John
and Paul.
NOt farre from this Church I observed a Nunnery j nunnery
Church called the Church of Madonna Miracolosa, church.
which although it were but little, yet for the outward
workemanship thereof it was the fairest that I saw in all
my travels. For all the outward walles round about were
built of pure milke-white alabaster. Within the same I
saw upon one of the Altars two exceeding great candels of
Virgin waxe, even as bigge as the greatest part of my
thigh.
In the yeare of our Lord M.D.Lxxvi. there hapned A grievous
a most grievous pestilence in Venice which destroyed at J> estl [ ence in
least a hundred thousand persons, but at last God looked "
downe from heaven with the eyes of mercy, and sodainly
stayed the infection. Whereupon the Senate to the end
they might be thankfull unto God for their sodaine
deliverance from so great a contagion, vowed to build a
faire Church, and to dedicate it to Christ the Redeemer,
to the end they might yearly honour him upon the same
day wherein the plague ceased, with certayne speciall and
extraordinary solemnities. For they affirme that there
was such a miraculous ceasing of the pestilence, that after
the day wherein there appeared that maine cessation,
365
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
there died few or none of any contagious sicknesse. This
vow they accordingly performed afterward, and built a
very goodly faire Church on the farther side of the water
[p. 226.] southward from the city, in that place which is called
the old Jewecka. For it was heretofore a place of the
Jewes habitation. At the first they vowed to bestow but
twelve thousand crownes in the building of it. But I
heard that it cost them afterward fourescore thousand
crownes, which doe amount to foure and twenty thousand
pound sterling. For indeed it is a passing sumptuous
The festival of and gorgeous building. It hapned that this festivall day
the tenth of was solemnized at the time of my being in Venice, even
upon the tenth day of July being Sunday. Upon which
day the Duke in his rich Ducal ornaments, accompanied
with his red damaske-gowned Senators and others of the
greatest personages of the City, as Ambassadors, Venetian
Knights, &c. came to the Church to heare Masse and
praise God. At that time there was made a faire broade
bridge over the water consisting of boates very artificially
joyned together, over the which were fastened boords for
the people to walke on to and fro to the Redeemers
Church ; being contrived in that manner as the bridge
of the Tyrant Maxentius was over the river Tyber, which
he commanded to be made upon boates (as this of Venice
was) neare to the bridge called Pons Milvius, upon the
which being driven backe by the force of the Emperour
Constantines Souldiers, he was presently drowned in the
A bridge of Tyber. This Venetian bridge which was prepared against
boats near a t m s religious solemnity, reached from one shore to the
other, and was almost a mile long. There was I also,
where I observed an exceeding multitude of people
flocking together to that Church, and passing forth and
backe over the bridge. At the Church dore there was
a prety green wreath hanged up at the top, reaching from
one side to the other, which was made of greene leaves
and fine fruits, as Melons, Oranges, Citrons, &c. Which
is a custome that I perceive to be used amongst them
upon every speciall holy day in the summer time, when
366
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
such things are to be had. Within the Church right over
the first great gate I read this written in great Capital! [p- 227.]
letters : Christo Redemptori Civitate a gravi pestilentia
liberata Senatus ex voto, Prid. Non. Sept. An.
M.D.Lxxvi. This Church belongeth now to a Convent
of Capucin Friers, who inhabited a little beggarly Cloyster
there before this faire Church was built, which hath been
since inlarged and amplified with a great addition of
roomes. There are at this time of the Fraternity of these
Capucins a hundred and fifty, whereof twenty are Noble
men and Noblemens sonnes. That day I saw a marvailous ^ marve ii ous
solemne Procession. For every Order and Fraternity of solemn
religious men in the whole city met together, and carried procession.
their Crosses and candlesticks of silver in procession to
the Redeemers Church, and so backe againe to their
severall Convents. Besides there was much good fellow
ship in many places of Venice upon that day. For there
were many places, whereof each yeelded allowance of Q OO J
variety of wine and cakes and some other prety junkats fellowship.
to a hundred good fellowes to be merry that day, but
to no more : this I know by experience. For a certaine
Stationer of the city, with whom I had some acquaintance,
one Joannes Guerilius met me by chance at the Redeemers
Church, and after he had shewed me the particular places
of the Capucins Monastery, brought me to a place where
we had very good wine, cakes, and other delicates gratis,
where a Priest served us all.
I visited the Church of the Grecians called S. Georges, The Church of
which is in the Parish of S. Martin, a very faire little the Grecians.
Church. It was my hap to be there at their Greekish
Liturgy in the morning : the floore of their Church is
paved with faire diamond pavier, made of white and red
marble like the pavement of S. Georges Church that I
will hereafter describe belonging to the Benedictine
Monks : and they have a faire vaulted roofe over the
middle of the Church, decked with the picture of God
in it, made in Mosaical worke, by whom there is written
in golden letters, and a great multitude of [p. 228.]
367
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Images not Angels about him. From the top of this vault there
(ZKek* 11 * descend eth an exceeding faire Candlesticke to the middle
churches ^ tne Church. Images they have none, neyther will they
admit any. For since the time of Leo the thirde Greeke
Emperour of that name, surnamed e<Voi/o/xa^o9, most of
the Greekes have abolished images out of their Churches,
though some of their Bishops have eftsoones endevoured
to restore them againe, as it hapned especially at the
seventh generall Councell, holden at the citie of Nicea in
Bithynia, under the Empresse Irene : but at this day the
Greeks will by no meanes endure any images in their
Churches ; notwithstanding in stead of them they have
many pictures made after their Greekish manner ; as of
Christ and the Virgin Mary, of S. George of Cappadocia,
of S. Nicolas, whom they worship as their Patron and
numen tutelare, celebrating this day every yeare a little
before Christmasse with many solemnities ; of Moyses,
&c. A little without their Adytum or secret chappell,
which is at the higher end of the Church, where the
Priest doth celebrate his Liturgy, I saw foure very
Candles eight sumptuous great candels of Virgin waxe, they were in my
foot high. estimation about eight foot high, and so thicke that both
my handes could nothing neare compasse them ; the
outside of them which looketh downe to the Church, is
almost from the toppe to the lower end all gilt, and
garnished with sundry colours, wherein are wrought faire
borders and workes : each of these cost twenty five
duckats, which amount to five pound sixteene shillings
eight pence sterling. For the Venetian duckat is about
foure shillings eight pence. They use beades as the
Papists doe, and crosse themselves, but much more then
the Papists. For as soone as they come into the Church,
standing about the middle thereof right opposite to the
Chappel where the Priest doth his ceremonies, they crosse
themselves six or seven times together, and use a very
[p. 229.] strange forme in their crossings. For after they have
crossed their forehead and breast, they caste down one
of their hands to their knees, and then begin againe.
368
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
Though their language be very corrupt, and degenerateth
very much from the pure elegancy that flourished in St.
Chrysostomes and Gregory Nazianzens time, yet they say
their Liturgy is very good Greeke. When they sing in
the Church to answere the Priest, they have one kind
of gesture, which seemeth to me both very unseemly Unseemly
and ridiculous. For they wagge their hands up and gesture.
downe very often. The Priest saith not divine service
in so open and publique a place to be seene as the
Papisticall Priests doe. For he saith service in a little
private Chappell, before whom most commonly there is
a Taffata curtaine drawne at the dore, that the people
may not see him, yet sometimes he removes it againe.
When the Grecians in the body of the Church answere
the Priest, a little Greekish boy in a short blacke gowne
goeth oftentimes from one side of the Church, where
they sit, to the other, holding a bible in his hand, unto
whom the Grecians sing by turnes, sometimes one at a
time, sometimes three or foure : the Priests Clarke com-
meth oftentimes out of the Chappell, and perfumeth the
people with his censor-boxe : Also the boyes come forth
often with their long candles at service time, and goe
about halfe the Church, and then returne againe into the
Chappell. Likewise these boyes use much nodding of
their heads as the Papists doe : for that I observed amongst
the Capucins in their Monastery adjoyning to the
Redeemers Church upon that solemne festivall day that
I have before mentioned. Most of these Grecians are
very blacke, and all of them both men and children doe Long-haired
weare long haire, much longer then any other mans Grecians.
besides that I could perceive in all Venice, a fashion
unseemly and very ruffian-like. It was my chance after
the Greekish Liturgy was done, to enter into some
Greeke discourse in the Church with the Greeke
Bishop Gabriel, who is Archbishop of Philadelphia, where [p. 230.]
I scoured up some of my olde Greeke, which by reason
of my long desuetude was become almost rusty, and
according to my slender skill had some parley with him
c. c. 369 2 A
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
doctrines
differ.
in his owne language. He spake the purest and
elegantest naturall Greeke that ever I heard, insomuch
that his phrase came something neere to that of Isocrates,
and his pronunciation was so plausible, that any man
which was skillfull in the Greeke tongue, might easily
understand him. Hee told me that they differ from the
Greek and Romish Church in some points of doctrine, especially
Roman about Purgatory. For that they utterly reject : neyther
doe they attribute to the Pope the title of Oecumenical
or universall Bishop that the Romanists doe. Also in his
parley betwixt him and me, he made worthy mention of
two English men, which did even tickle my heart with
joy. For it was a great comfort unto me to heare my
country men well spoken of by a Greekish Bishop. Hee
much praised Sir Henry Wotton our Ambassador in
Venice for his rare learning, and that not without great
desert, as all those doe know that have tried his excellent
partes : and he commended one Mr. Samuel Slade unto
me, a Dorset-shire man borne, and one of the fellowes
of Merton colledge in Oxford, but now a famous traveller
abroad in the world. For I met him in Venice. The
Grecian commended him for his skill in the Greeke tongue,
and told mee that he had communicated unto him some
manuscript fragments of S. Chrysostomes Greeke workes,
the fruites whereof I hope we shall one day see.
I was at a place where the whole fraternity of the
Jews dwelleth together, which is called the Ghetto, being
an Hand : for it is inclosed round about with water. It
is thought there are of them in all betwixt five and sixe
thousand. They are distinguished and discerned from
the Christians by their habites on their heads ; for some
[p. 231.] of them doe weare hats and those redde, onely those
Jewes that are borne in the Westerne parts of the world,
as in Italy, &c. but the easterne Jewes being otherwise
called the f Levantine Jewes, which are borne in Hieru-
f They are so called from the Latin word levare, which sometimes
signifieth as much as elevare, that is to elevate or lift up. Because the
sunne elevateth and raiseth it selfe in heigth every morning in the East:
herehence also commeth the Levant sea, for the Easterne Sea.
37
The Jews
Ghetto.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
salem, Alexandria, Constantinople, &c. weare Turbents
upon their heads as the Turkes do : but the difference
is this : the Turkes weare white, the Jewes yellow. By
that word Turbent I understand a rowle of fine linnen
wrapped together upon their heads, which serveth them
in stead of hats, whereof many have bin often worne by
the Turkes in London. They have divers Synagogues Divine
in their Ghetto, at the least seven, where all of them, service in a
both men, women and children doe meete together upon ^agogue.
their Sabboth, which is Saturday, to the end to doe their
devotion, and serve God in their kinde, each company
having a several Synagogue. In the midst of the Syna
gogue they have a round seat made of Wainscot, having
eight open spaces therein, at two whereof which are at
the sides, they enter into the seate as by dores. The
Levite that readeth the law to them, hath before him at
the time of divine service an exceeding long piece of
parchment, rowled up upon two woodden handles : in
which is written the whole summe and contents of Moyses
law in Hebrew : that doth he (being discerned from the
lay people onely by wearing of a redde cap, whereas the
others doe weare redde hats) pronounce before the con
gregation not by a sober, distinct, and orderly reading,
but by an exceeding loud yaling, undecent roaring, and Roaring not
as it were a beastly bellowing of it forth. And that reading.
after such a confused and hudling manner, that I thinke
the hearers can very hardly understand him : sometimes
he cries out alone, and sometimes againe some others
serving as it were his Clerkes hard without his seate, and
within, do roare with him, but so that his voyce (which
he straineth so high as if he sung for a wager) drowneth
all the rest. Amongst others that are within the roome
with him, one is he that commeth purposely thither from [p. 232.]
his seat, to the end to reade the law, and pronounce some
part of it with him, who when he is gone, another riseth
from his seat, and commeth thither to supply his roome.
This order they keepe from the beginning of service to
the end. One custome I observed amongst them very
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
An irreverent irreverent and prophane, that none of them, eyther when
they enter the Synagogue, or when they sit downe in
their places, or when they goe forth againe, doe any
reverence or obeysance, answerable to such a place of the
worship of God, eyther by uncovering their heads, kneel
ing, or any other externall gesture, but boldly dash into
the roome with their Hebrew bookes in their handes,
and presently sit in their places, without any more adoe ;
every one of them whatsoever he be, man or childe,
weareth a kinde of light yellowish vaile, made of Linsie
Woolsie (as I take it) over his shoulders, something worse
then our courser Holland, which reacheth a little beneath
the middle of their backes. They have a great company
of candlestickes in each Synagogue made partly of glasse,
and partly of brasse and pewter, which hang square about
their Synagogue. For in that forme is their Synagogue
built : of their candlestickes I told above sixty in the same
Synagogue.
I observed some fewe of those Jewes especially some
of the Levantines to bee such goodly and proper men,
that then I said to my selfe our English proverbe : To
looke like a Jewe (whereby is meant sometimes a weather
beaten warp-faced fellow, sometimes a phrenticke and
lunaticke person, sometimes one discontented) is not true.
For indeed I noted some of them to be most elegant and
sweet featured persons, which gave me occasion the more
to lament their religion. For if they were Christians,
then could I better apply unto them that excellent verse
of the Poet, then I can now.
Gratior est pulchro veniens e corpore virtus.
In the roome wherin they celebrate their divine service,
no women sit, but have a loft or gallery proper to them
selves only, where I saw many Jewish women, whereof
some were as beautiful as ever I saw, and so gorgeous
in their apparel, jewels, chaines of gold, and rings adorned
with precious stones, that some of our English Countesses
do scarce exceede them, having marvailous long traines
372
An English
proverb
misapplied.
[P- 233-]
Beautiful
women.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
like Princesses that are borne up by waiting women
serving for the same purpose. An argument to prove
that many of the Jewes are very rich. One thing they
observe in their service which is utterly condemned by
our Saviour Christ, fBattologia, that is a very tedious Tedious
babling, and an often repetition of one thing, which babbling.
cloied mine eares so much that I could not endure them
any longer, having heard them at least an houre ; for
their service is almost three houres long. They are very
religious in two things only, and no more, in that they
worship no images, and that they keep their sabboth so
strictly, that upon that day they wil neither buy nor sell,
nor do any secular, prophane, or irreligious exercise, (I
would to God our Christians would imitate the Jewes
herein) no not so much as dresse their victuals, which is
alwaies done the day before, but dedicate and consecrate
themselves wholy to the strict worship of God. Their
circumcision they observe as duely as they did any time Circumcision.
betwixt Abraham (in whose time it was first instituted)
and the incarnation of Christ. For they use to circumcise
every male childe when he is eight dayes old, with a stony
knife. But I had not the opportunitie to see it. Likewise
they keepe many of those ancient feastes that were
instituted by Moyses. Amongst the rest the feast of
tabernacles is very ceremoniously observed by them.
From swines flesh they abstaine as their ancient fore
fathers were wont to doe, in which the Turkes do imitate
them at this day. Truely it is a most lamentable case
for a Christian to consider the damnable estate of these
miserable Jewes, in that they reject the true Messias and [p. 234.]
Saviour of their soules, hoping to be saved rather by the
observation of those Mosaicall ceremonies, (the date A lamentable
whereof was fully expired at Christ s incarnation) then case -
by the merits of the Saviour of the world, without whom
all mankind shall perish. And as pitifull it is to see that
fewe of them living in Italy are converted to the Christian
religion. For this I understand is the maine impediment
f Mat. 6. ver. 7.
373
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
to their conversion : All their goodes are confiscated as
soone as they embrace Christianity : and this I heard is
the reason, because whereas many of them doe raise their
Fortunes made fortunes by usury, in so much that they doe not only
by usury. sheare, but also flea many a poore Christians estate by
their griping extortion ; it is therefore decreed by the
Pope, and other free Princes in whose territories they live,
that they shall make a restitution of all their ill gotten
goods, and so disclogge their soules and consciences, when
they are admitted by holy baptisme into the bosome of
Christs Church. Seing then when their goods are taken
from them at their conversion, they are left even naked,
and destitute of their meanes of maintenance, there are
fewer Jewes converted to Christianity in Italy, than in
any country of Christendome. Whereas in Germany,
Poland, and other places the Jewes that are converted
(which doth often happen, as Emanuel Tremellius was
converted in Germany) do enjoy their estates as they did
before.
But now I will make relation of that which I promised
in my treatise of Padua, I meane my discourse with the
The Jewish Jewes about their religion. For when as walking in the
e ISH Court of the Ghetto, I casually met with a certaine learned
Jewish Rabbin that spake good Latin, I insinuated my
selfe after some fewe termes of complement into conference
with him, and asked him his opinion of Christ, and why he
did not receive him for his Messias ; he made me the
[p. 235.] same answere that the Turke did at Lyons, of whom I
have before spoken, that Christ forsooth was a great
Prophet, and in that respect as highly to be esteemed as
any Prophet amongst the Jewes that ever lived before
him ; but derogated altogether from his divinitie, and
would not acknowledge him for the Messias and Saviour
of the world, because he came so contemptibly, and not
with that pompe and majesty that beseemed the redeemer
of mankind. I replyed that we Christians doe, and will
even to the effiusion of our vitall bloud confesse him to
be the true and onely Messias of the world, seeing he
374
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
confirmed his Doctrine while hee was here on earth, with The
such an innumerable multitude of divine miracles, which nsf
did most infallibly testifie his divinitie ; and that they
themselves, who are Christs irreconciliable enemies, could
not produce any authority either out of Moyses, the
Prophets, or any other authenticke author to strengthen
their opinion concerning the temporall kingdome of the
Messias, seeing it was foretolde to be spirituall : and told
him, that Christ did as a spirituall King reigne over his
subjects in conquering their spiritual enemies the flesh,
the world, and the divell. Withall I added that the pre
dictions and sacred oracles both of Moyses, and all the
holy Prophets of God, aymed altogether at Christ as their
onely marke, in regarde hee was the full consummation
of the law and the Prophets, and I urged a place of f Esay
unto him concerning the name Emanuel, and a virgins
conceiving and bearing of a sonne ; and at last descended
to the perswasion of him to abandon and renounce his
Jewish religion and to undertake the Christian faith,
without the which he should be eternally damned. He
againe replyed that we Christians doe misinterpret the Christians
Prophets, and very perversly wrest them to our owne misinterpret
sense, and for his owne part he had confidently resolved the P r P hets -
to live and die in his Jewish faith, hoping to be saved
by the observations of Moyses Law. In the end he
seemed to be somewhat exasperated against me, because [p. 236.]
I sharpely taxed their superstitious ceremonies. For
many of them are such refractary people that they cannot
endure to heare any reconciliation to the Church of Christ,
in regard they esteeme him but for a carpenters sonne,
and a silly poore wretch that once rode upon an Asse,
and most unworthy to be the Messias whom they expect The Messiah
to come with most pompous magnificence and imperiall expected by
royalty, like a peerelesse Monarch, garded with many the Jews -
legions of the gallantest Worthies, and most eminent
personages of the whole world, to conquer not onely their
old country Judaea and all those opulent and flourishing
f Cap. 17. ver. 14.
375
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Kingdomes, which heretofore belonged to the foure
auncient Monarchies (such is their insupportable pride)
but also all the nations generally under the cope of heaven,
and make the King of Guiane, and al other Princes what
soever dwelling in the remotest parts of the habitable
world his tributary vassals. Thus hath God justly
infatuated their understandings, and given them the spirit
of slumber (as Saint Paule speaketh out of the Prophet
Esay) eyes that they should not see, and eares that they
should not heare unto this day. But to shut up this
narration of my conflict with the Jewish Rabbin, after
there had passed many vehement speeches to and fro
betwixt us, it happened that some forty or fifty Jewes
Jewish more flocked about me, and some of them beganne very
insolence. i nso l en tly to swagger with me, because I durst reprehend
their religion : Whereupon fearing least they would have
offered me some violence, I withdrew my selfe by little
and little towards the bridge at the entrance into the
Ghetto, with an intent to flie from them, but by good
fortune our noble Ambassador Sir Henry Wotton passing
under the bridge in his Gondola at that very time, espyed
me somewhat earnestly bickering with them, and so incon
tinently sent unto me out of his boate one of his principall
Gentlemen Master Belford his secretary, who conveighed
[p. 237.] mee safely from these unchristian miscreants, which perhaps
would have given mee just occasion to forsweare any
more comming to the Ghetto.
Thus much for the Jewish Ghetto, their service, and my
discourse with one of their Rabbines.
376
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
King I have now mentioned that Honour- Sir Henry
able Gentleman Sir Henry Wotton, I mmn -
will here insert an elegant Epistle written
unto him by my right worthy friend that
fluent-tongued Gentleman and plausible
Linguist Mr. Richard Martin of the
Middle Temple, because it was the prin-
cipall occasion of purchasing me the friendship of that
noble Knight, which I esteeme for one of the best fortunes
that hapned unto me in my travels. This I say was his
Epistle which he superscribed with this Title.
To the Right Honorable Sir Henry Wotton,
Knight, Ambassador for the King of Great
Britaine in Venice,
The Epistle itselfe is this.
MY LORD,
Hough I know well that they who Richard Mar-
undertake to commend others, must tin 5 letter to
have something in themselves worthy yp ottm
commendation, (for that the derivative
power by the rules of our lawes, cannot
be greater then the primitive) yet since
my bouldnesse growes upon the assur
ance of your Lordships favour, and not out of any [p. 238.]
opinion of mine owne worth, the presumption is the
lesse faulty, and the more pardonable ; to which con
sideration if I should adde the desert of the person
whom this letter presents to your Lordship, it would
make me feare the lesse, calling to my remembrance
how rich your Lordship did always account your
selfe in the wealth of vertuous acquaintances, and
well-accomplished friends. Amongst whom this bearer
M. Thomas Coryate of Odcombe in Somersetshire,
will easily finde a place, if for my sake, and by my means
your Lordship will first deigne to take notice of him.
377
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Richard^ To give your Lordship an inventory of his particular
Martini qualities, were rather to paint my friend then to praise
letter to Sir J 1 . , , , r J ,., n ul
Henry Wotton. mm nor wou ld that forme seeme liberall or agreeable
with either of our open minds ; yet seeing to yeeld no
reason or account of my report of him, would make us
both suspected, and seeme rather a begging of your
favour for a worthlesse man, then a just pretension
thereto : by that right and title which all vertuous men
have in men publiquely qualified as your Lordship, I will
only say this, that looke what pleasure or contentment
may be drawen from good society, liberall studies, or
variable discourse, are all to be found in M. Thomas
Coryate. In the first, in via pro vehiculo est, more
pleasant then a Dutch waggon ; in the second, a
Universall pretender ; in the third, amongst his friends
infinite, and the last that will be wearied. The end of
his voyage (which must be first made knowen to an
[p. 239.] Ambassador) is to better himselfe by the increase of
knowledge for the good of his Country, wherein he is
resolved to begge wisdome among the rich, rather then
wealth of riches amongst the learned ; and what the
affection of the Gentleman is to learning, I can (if neede
be) be deposed ; but of his ability and judgement therein,
I had rather your Lordships sharpe judgement should finde
him guilty, then mine accuse him. For I hate to betray
my friends. Two things I have intreated him to carry
with him, discretion and money, which commodities are
not easily taken up by exchange upon the Rialto ; he
hath promised me to goe well furnished with both, of
other things he hopes to be furnished by your Lordships
means. One thing by way of preoccupation I would
intreat of your Lordship, that if any of your Intelligencers
should give advertisement of any traffiquing or mer
chandising used by this Gentleman at Naples, your
Lordship would rather interpret it as done collaterally
or incidentally by way of entertainement, then finally for
any gaine ; being determined (besides his experience) to
returne for other things a very beggar. But hereof
378
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
himselfe will yeeld your Lordship a fuller reason : To
binde up all, take into your Honorable consideration,
Miit i j i letter to Str
that looke what curtesie you doe to him, your Lordship UenryWotton.
shall doe to a Gentleman in whose veines runs the bloud
of the noble Essexian family, to whose chiefe he is cosen
german, but somewhat removed, to what * distance I
cannot shew your Lordship. Thus not longer to interrupt
your Lordships seriousnesse, craving pardon for my selfe,
and favour for him, I humbly kisse your honorable hand. [p. 240.]
Your humble servant,
Middle Temple RlCHARD MARTIN,
the first of May i6o8./
HEre againe I wil once more speake of our most &&gt; Henry
worthy Ambassador Sr Henry Wotton, honoris Cotton a most
A i i i 1 /IT wortay am-
causa, because his house was m the same street (when 1 b assa j or
was in Venice) where the Jewish Ghetto is, even in the
streete called St. Hieronimo, and but a little from it.
Certainly he hath greatly graced and honoured his
country by that most honourable port that he hath
maintayned in this noble City, by his generose carriage
and most elegant and gracious behaviour amongst the
greatest Senators and Clarissimoes, which like the true
adamant, had that attractive vertue to winne him their
love and grace in the highest measure. And the rather
I am induced to make mention of him, because I received
many great favours at his hands in Venice, for the which
(I must confesse) I am most deservedly ingaged unto
him in all due observance and obsequious respects while
I live. Also those rare vertues of the minde wherewith
God hath abundantly inriched him, his singular learning
and exquisite knowledge in the Greeke and Latin, and
the famousest languages of Christendome, which are
excellently beautified with a plausible volubility of speech,
have purchased him the inward friendship of all the
* But you might have told his Lordship (gentle M. Martin) if
you had beene so disposed, to the distance of the fourth degree, and
no further. For I can assure you Sir that is most true.
379
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Christian Ambassadors resident in the City ; and finally
his zealous conversation, (which is the principall thing of
all) piety, and integrity of life, and his true worship of
God in the middest of Popery, superstition, and idolatry
(for he hath service and sermons in his house after the
[p. 241.] Protestant manner, which I thinke was never before
permitted in Venice, that solid Divine and worthy
Schollar Mr. William Bedel being his Preacher at the
time of my being in Venice) will be very forcible motives
(I doubt not) to winne many soules to Jesus Christ, and
to draw divers of the famous Papists of the City to the
true reformed religion, and profession of the Gospell.
Friar Paul. J n this street also doth famous Frier Paul dwell which
is of the order of Servi. I mention him because in the
time of the difference betwixt the Signiory of Venice and
the Pope, he did in some sort oppose himselfe against the
Pope, especially concerning his supremacy in civill matters,
and as wel with his tongue as his pen inveighed not a
little against him. So that for his bouldnesse with the
Popes Holynesse he was like to be slaine by some of the
Papists in Venice, whereof one did very dangerously
wound him. It is thought that he doth dissent in many
points from the Papisticall doctrine, and inclineth to the
Protestants religion, by reason that some learned Protes
tants have by their conversation with him in his Convent
something diverted him from Popery. Wherefore notice
being taken by many great men of the City that he
beginneth to swarve from the Romish religion, he was
lately restrained (as I heard in Venice) from all conference
5. Georges *w\\\\ Protestants. I was at the Monastery of the Bene-
01t ft ter j- dictine Monkes called Saint Georges, which is situate in
tines. a ver y delectable Island about halfe a mile Southward from
Saint Marks place. It is a passing sumptuous place, and
the fairest and richest Monastery without comparison in
all Venice, having at the least threescore thousand crownes
for a yearlie revenue, which amounte to eighteene thousand
pound sterling. Now they are much occupied in building
as the Benedictines of Padua, especially about the finishing
380
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
of their Church which is a marvailous faire worke : and
in which are many auncient monuments. Of some [p. 242.]
whereof I will make relation, and beginne with the
principallest, which is that of Saint Stephen the first
Christian Martyr. For here his bones lye (as they say) s - Stephen s
inclosed under a goodly Altar of red marble, unto which to
there is a faire ascent by five porphyrie greeses, and very
rich marble pillars on both sides of excellent colours,
white, blacke, blewish, &c. On the left hand of the Altar
this is written in a faire piece of stone. Divus Stephanus
Protomartyr, Anno post Christum natum 33. a Judaeis
saxis petitus Hierosolymis Martyrio coronatur, atque inter
sanctos coelites refertur Syone conditus. Ejus ossa multis
post annis Honorii Caesaris tempore Luciani Presbyteri
divino monitu patefacta, & ex Syone Constantinopolin a
pia muliere Juliana, Constantino Heraclii Imperante in
Constantianam primum Basilicam translata, Venetias inde
navi per Petrum Venetum Monachum transvecta, Pascale
2. Pont. Opt. Max. Alexio Comneno Orientis & Henrico
Occidentis Imperatore : edito insigni miraculo dum vec-
tores foedissima jactati tempestate Maleam deflecterent.
Tribunus Nemo hujus Cocnobii Abbas maxime pius
templo veteri in aram maximam recondidit. Joanne
Gradonigo Patriarcha Gradense, & Ordelapho Faletro
Venetiarum Principe. VIII. Cal. Julii, M. C. X. Againe
this is written on the right hand of the same Altar.
Ossa Divi Stephani Protomartyris, quum adhuc in dicta
asde conderentur, Gallo Equiti oranti ibidem ab Angelo
ccelesti oraculo manifestata, petentibus Wilhelmo atque
Alberto Austriae Ducibus Senatusconsulto reserata sunt
Cal. Sept. M. C C C. L X X I X. Sed novo hoc
templo in Divi Georgii & ipsius Protomartyris honorem
a Monachis in augustiorem formam restitute, veteri aede
solo aequata, quo arae maximae fundamenta jacerentur,
universae fere civitatis in hanc insulam concursu Deiparae
Assumptionis festo die Joanne Trivisano Patriarcha Vene
tiarum, praeeuntibus Abbate & Monachis, hymnosque &
laudes canentibus, Nicolai de Ponte Venetiarum Principis
381
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
[p- M3-] & Senatus praesentia vetere Protomartyris monumento
demolito venerabundi monachi eadem in hoc ipsum sub
vesperam suppliciter intulere, atque intra arcam consti-
tuere. Gregorii 13. Pontificatus Anno IX. Rodulpho 2.
Romanorum Imperatore.
Over his Altar is painted the History of his stoning
by the Jewes, passing well in a faire table.
Opposite to Saint Stephens Altar at the South side
of the Church (for this before mentioned standeth in the
North side) is erected an Altar wherein are intombed the
S.DamiantAe bones of St. Damianus the Confessor, adorned with fbure
exceeding beautifull pillars of whitish marble, wherein
are many Azure vaines. Over each of these Altars
standeth a silver Crucifixe with two silver Candlestickes.
In another part of the South side I saw the monument
of Dominicus Bollanus a Senator of Venice, and afterward
Bishop of Brixia, with his Statue to the middle erected
over it, and this Epitaph is written in golden letters, upon
a table of Touchstone. Dominico Bollano Senatori gravis-
simo Brixianam Prseturam difficillimis temporibus gerenti,
ab ea ad ejusdem civitatis Episcopatum divinitus vocato,
viginti & amplius annis in ejus administratione summa
cum vigilantia & sanctitate consumptis, illius ossibus
Brixiae conditis, hoc in patria monumentum quod posteri
sequantur, Antonius & Vincentius fratris filii pie posuere,
Anno Dom. M. D. LXXIX. Prid. Id. Augusti, annos
natus LXV menses VI. dies duos.
Againe, in the North side of the Church right opposite
to this monument, there is another monument of Vin
centius Maurocenus a Venetian Knight, adorned with a
faire statue of free stone, and under it this Epitaph is
written. Vincentio Mauroceno Equiti Si Marci Procura-
toris gradum factis consiliisque praeclaris adepto, gravis-
simis reipub. temporibus, Provisoris Generalis munere
in tuenda ora maritima fortissime uso, Oratoris dignitate
apud Gregorium 13. & amplissimis aliis honoribus magni-
ficentissime functo, pietate longe prsestantissimo Andream
F. L. D. & mirificse indolis adolescentem summo cum
382
Monument to
Vincentius
Maurocenus.
[p. 244.]
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
omnium dolore peregre redeundo Byzantio mortuum
eodem hoc tumulo condendum curavit pii in parentem
filii M. P. vixit annos 77. Cal. Martii decessit. Anno
M. D. LXXXVIII.
The pavement of the body of the Church is made of The body of
diamond pavier of red and white marble. The body it the Churcfl -
selfe is fifty five paces long, and fifty one broad. The
roofe which is over the middle, is vaulted and hollow
like a nut shell. There are two rowes of stately pillars
in the body, whereof each containeth sixe more ; but so
massie these pillars are, that some of them doe consist
of eight particulars, square and very artificially compacted
together in one. At the West end of the Church are
two very rich Fonts made of Porphyrie stone. In the
Quire the whole history of St. Bennet is very curiously
made in Wainscot by a certaine Flemming called Albertus
de Brule, and two rowes of seates are with principall
fine cunning made of Wainscot ; the pavement of checker
worke, with prety litle pieces of marble of divers colours
white, red, blacke, &c.
There is an exceeding rich Altar a little without the
Quire, made of marble stones of different colours, at the
toppe whereof are erected foure brasen men, supporting
an exceeding great brasen globe, and at the top thereof
standeth the image of Christ, made in brasse also.
Hard by this Altar are two very rich candlestickes, the Rich
base whereof is touch-stone, and all the rest full of variety can ^ estlc ^ f
of curious workes, made in brasse as farre as the socket ;
the whole shanke betwixt the base and the socket being
about eight foot high. These were the fairest candle
sticks that ever I saw. Againe opposite to this Altar on
both sides of the Church are set two marveilous faire
tables of religious pictures : In another roome adjoyning
to the Church, I saw another goodly Altar, over which
was written, Altare privilegiatum pro mortuis in quo jacet
corpus S Pauli Constantinopolitani Martyris.
I was in a long gallery of this Monastery, which is a [p. 245.]
very goodly, faire and spacious roome to walke in. Also
383
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The
Refectory.
A very not
able garden.
A Scottish
monk.
The Fontigo.
[p. 246.]
I saw their Hall or Refectory, where there is a passing
faire picture of an exceeding breadth and length, contain
ing the history of Christs sitting at the table at the
marriage at Cana in Galilie. They have a very faire
cloyster that invironeth a prety green quadrangle, on the
North side whereof there is a certaine convenient roome,
where the Abbot and the Monkes do meete every after-
noone. There doth the Abbot examine them wherein
they have transgressed the rule of the Instituter of their
order S. Bennet, and those whom he findeth offenders are
disciplined according to his discretion. They have an
exceeding delectable and large garden full of great variety
of dainty fruites, which is the fairest not onely of all
Venice, but also of all the Gardens I saw in Italy, sur
passing even that notable garden of the Benedictins in
Padua, which I have before mentioned. Insomuch that
I have heard this conceit of this garden : That as Italy
is the garden of the world, Lombardy the garden of
Italy, Venice the garden of Lombardy, so this is /car e^o^v
the garden of Venice. Every Friday they bestow great
almes upon the poore, and once every yeare, which I take
to be the eighth day of October, they bestow almes upon
six thousand poore for the sake of all Christian soules.
None of these Monks doe eat any flesh but onely in time
of great necessity, but altogether fish. I was much
beholding in this Monastery to a certaine Scottish Monke
of the house, who accompanied me all the while I was
there, and shewed me all things that I saw there.
Thus much of S. Georges Monastery.
THere is a very magnificent and sumptuous building
neere to the banke of the Canal il grande, and
opposite to the Rialto where the Dutch Merchants doe
sojourne, called the Fontigo. They say there are two
hundred severall lodgings in this house : it is square and
built foure stories high, with faire galleries, supported
with prety pillars in rowes above each other. At the
comming in of the house, directly over the linterne of the
384
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
dore, this inscription is made in stone ; Leonardi Laure-
dani Inclyti Principis Principatus anno sexto.
There are two very faire and spacious Piazzaes or The market
maket places in the Citie, besides that of St. Marke before f lace f s -
mentioned, whereof the fairest is St. Stephens, being
indeed of a notable length, even two hundred eighty seven
paces long, for I paced it ; but of a meane breadth, onely
sixty one. Here every Sunday and Holy-day in the
evening the young men of the citie doe exercise them-
salves at a certaine play that they call Baloone, which is
thus : Sixe or seven yong men or thereabout weare certaine ^ ame f
round things upon their armes, made of timber, which
are full of sharpe pointed knobs cut out of the same
matter. In these exercises they put off their dublets,
and having put this round instrument upon one of their
armes, they tosse up and downe a great ball, as great as
our football in England : sometimes they will tosse the
ball with this instrument, as high as a common Church,
and about one hundred paces at the least from them.
About them sit the Clarissimoes of Venice, with many
strangers that repair thither to see their game. I have
seene at the least a thousand or fifteene hundred people
there : If you will have a stoole it will cost you a gazet,
which is almost a penny. The other Piazza is a faire one
also, that of St. Paul, being all greene, whereas the other The P tazz *
being paved with bricke is bare and plaine without any ** * au
grasse. These two have their names from Churches : the
first from St. Stephens Church adjoyning to it, where
there is a convent of Friers, and many auncient monu
ments of great antiquities are shewed there. And the
other from St. Pauls Church hard by, which although it
be but little yet it is passing glorious and beautifull, being
gilt round about very richly within side. I was at the [p- 24?-]
house of Grimannus Patriarch of Aquileia, which is a
very stately building, and furnished with many notable
antiquities of statues, &c. the best and the greatest part
are in chambers and higher roomes, whither I could not
have accesse by reason of a sinister accident. But in the
c. c. 385 2 B
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Court I saw a goodly alabaster statue of a Gyant, and
many stones wherein were Greeke and Latin inscriptions.
A little from St. Pauls Church that I have before men-
The Friery tioned, there is a goodly Church called the Friery, which
Church. indeed in riches and sumptuousnesse is inferiour to many
Churches in the citie, but in greatnesse it exceedeth them
all. Besides there are many notable monuments to be
scene there. Amongst the rest a very auncient statue of
one of their generall Captaines on horse-backe, with an
Epitaph in such obselete and difficult characters that I
could not reade it.
I was at one of their Play-houses where I saw a Comedie
acted. The house is very beggarly and base in comparison
of our stately Play-houses in England : neyther can their
Actors compare with us for apparell, shewes and musicke.
Here I observed certaine things that I never saw before.
Women actors. For I saw women acte, a thing that I never saw before,
though I have heard that it hath beene sometimes used
in London, and they performed it with as good a grace,
action, gesture, and whatsoever convenient for a Player,
as ever I saw any masculine Actor. Also their noble &
famous Cortezans came to this Comedy, but so disguised,
that a man cannot perceive them. For they wore double
maskes upon their faces, to the end they might not
be scene : one reaching from the toppe of their forehead
to their chinne and under their necke ; another with
twiskes of downy or woolly stuffe covering their noses.
And as for their neckes round about, they were so covered
and wrapped with cobweb lawne and other things, that no
[p. 248.] part of their skin could be discerned. Upon their heads
they wore little blacke felt caps very like to those of the
Clarissimoes that I will hereafter speake of. Also each of
them wore a black short Taffata cloake. They were so
graced that they sate on high alone by themselves in the
best roome of all the Play-house. If any man should
be so resolute to unmaske one of them but in merriment
onely to see their faces, it is said that were he never so
noble or worthy a personage, he should be cut in pieces
386
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
before he should come forth of the roome, especially if
he were a stranger. I saw some men also in the Play
house, disguised in the same manner with double vizards,
those were said to be the favourites of the same Cortezans :
they sit not here in galleries as we doe in London. For
there is but one or two little galleries in the house, wherein
the Cortezans only sit. But all the men doe sit beneath
in the yard or court, every man upon his severall stoole,
for the which hee payeth a gazet.
I passed in a Gondola to pleasant Murano, distant about Murano.
a little mile from the citie, where they make their delicate
Venice glasses, so famous over al Christendome for the Venice glass.
incomparable finenes thereof, and in one of their working
houses made a glasse my selfe. Most of their principal!
matter whereof they make their glasses is a kinde of earth
which is brought thither by Sea from Drepanum a goodly
haven towne of SiciKe, where ^Eneas buried his aged
father Anchises. This Murano is a very delectable and
populous place, having many faire buildings both publique
and private. And divers very pleasant gardens : the first
that inhabited it were those of the towne Altinum border
ing upon the Sea coast, who in the time of the Hunnes
invasion of Italy, repaired hither with their wives and
children, for the more securitie of their lives, as other
borderers also did at the same time to those Islands, where
Venice now standeth. Here did I eate the best Oysters
that ever I did in all my life. They were indeede but [p- 249.]
little, something lesse then our Waintlete Oysters about
London, but as green as a leeke y and gratissimi saporis
& succi.
By the way betwixt Venice and Murano I observed a
most notable thing, whereof I had often heard long before,
a faire Monastery of Augustinian Monkes built by a A Monastery
second t Flora or Lais. I meane a rich Cortezan of J?
TT i x n TT> M- T i Courtezan.
Venice, whose name was Margarita /hmiliana. 1 have
not heard of so religious a worke done by so irreligious
a founder in any place of Christendome : belike she
+ These were rich cortezans the one in Rome, the other in Corinth.
387
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
hoped to make expiation unto God by this holy
deede for the lascivious dalliances of her youth, but tali
spe freti sperando pereant.
I saw about a mile east from Venice a most goodly
building of an extraordinary greatnesse, called Lio, which
serveth in stead of a Castle, to contain those Souldiers
that are pressed for the warres in the city and other places
thereabout, for some convenient time, till they are afterward
disposed eyther for Sea or Land service, according to the
pleasure of their Captaines, whom they shall serve.
The feast of \ was at three very solemne feasts in Venice, I meane
. aurence. nQt commessa ti ons or banquets, but holy and religious
solemnities, whereof the first was in the Church of certaine
Nunnes in St. Laurence parish, which are dedicated to
St. Laurence. This was celebrated the one and thirtieth
of July being Sunday, where I heard much singular
The feast of rnusicke. The second was on the day of our Ladies
*fo n a " um * ~ assumption, which was the fifth of August being Fryday,
that day in the morning I saw the Duke in some of his
richest ornaments, accompanyed with twenty sixe couple
of Senators, in their damaske-long-sleeved gownes come
to Saint Marks. Also there were Venetian Knights and
Ambassadors, that gave attendance upon him, and the
first that went before him on the right hand, carried a
naked sword in his hand. He himselfe then wore two
[p. 250.] very rich robes or long garments, whereof the uppermost
was white, of cloth of silver, with great massy buttons
of gold, the other cloth of silver also, but adorned with
many curious workes made in colours with needle worke.
His traine was then holden up by two Gentlemen. At
that time I heard much good musicke in Saint Markes
Church, but especially that of a treble violl which was so
excellent, that I thinke no man could surpasse it. Also
there were sagbuts and cornets as at St. Laurence feast
which yeelded passing good musicke. The third feast
was upon Saint Roches day being Saturday and the sixth
day of August, where I heard the best musicke that ever
I did in all my life both in the morning and the afternoone,
388
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
so good that I would willingly goe an hundred miles a
foote at any time to heare the like. The place where it
was, is neare to Saint Roches Church, a very sumptuous
and magnificent building that belongeth to one of the
sixe f Companies of the citie. For there are in Venice
sixe Fraternities or Companies that have their severall
halles (as we call them in London) belonging to them, T J? e Ctf y
and great maintenance for the performing of those shewes
that each company doth make ; as that Fraternitie to
whom this most portly building neare Saint Roches
Church belongeth (being farre the fairest of all the sixe)
doth enjoy the yearely revenew of foureteene thousand
Chiquinies, which do amount to sixe thousand ninety five
pounds sixeteene shillings and eight pence. Every Chi-
quinie containing eleven Livers, and twelve sols ; the
Liver is nine pence, the sol an half penny. So that the
Venetian Chiquinie countervaileth eight shillings eight
pence halfe penny of our money. This building hath a
marvailous rich and stately frontispice, being built with
passing faire white stone, and adorned with many goodly
pillars of marble. There are three most beautifull roomes
in this building ; the first is the lowest, which hath two
rowes of goodly pillars in it opposite to each other which [p- 2 5 J -]
upon this day of Saint Roch were adorned with many
faire pictures of great personages that hanged round
about them, as of Emperours, Kings, Queenes, Dukes,
Duchesses, Popes, &c. In this roome are two or three The Halls of
faire Altars : For this roome is not appointed for merri- ~ e
11 i i 11 i i Compt.
ments and banquetmgs as the halles belonging to the
Companies of London, but altogether for devotion and
religion, therein to laud and prayse God and his Saints
with Psalmes, Hymnes, spirituall songs and melodious
musicke upon certaine daies dedicated unto Saints. The
second is very spacious and large, having two or three
faire Altars more : the roofe of this roome which is of a
f These Companies are neither more nor lesse then sixe, to the
end to answere the sixe parts or tribes whereof the whole citie con-
sisteth. One Company being appointed for every particular tribe.
389
banies.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
stately heigth, is richly gilt and decked with many sumptu
ous embossings of gold, and the walles are beautified with
sundry delicate pictures, as also many parts of the roofe ;
unto this room you must ascend by two or three very
goodly paire of staires. The third room which is made
at one corner of this spacious roome, is very beautifull,
having both roofe and wals something correspondent to
the other ; but the floore much more exquisite and
curious, being excellently distinguished with checker
worke made of several kinds of marble, which are put in
by the rarest cunning that the wit of man can devise.
The feast of The second roome is the place where this festivitie was
solemnized to the honour of Saint Roch, at one end
whereof was an Altar garnished with many singular
ornaments, but especially with a great multitude of silver
Candlesticks, in number sixty, and Candles in them of
Virgin waxe. This feast consisted principally of Musicke,
which was both vocall and instrumental, so good, so
delectable, so rare, so admirable, so superexcellent, that
it did even ravish and stupifie all those strangers that
never heard the like. But how others were affected with
it I know not ; for mine owne part I can say this, that I
was for the time even rapt up with Saint Paul into the
[p. 252.] third heaven. Sometimes there sung sixeteene or twenty
men together, having their master or moderator to keepe
them in order ; and when they sung, the instrumental!
musitians played also. Sometimes sixeteene played
together upon their instruments, ten Sagbuts, foure
Cornets, and two Violdegambaes of an extraordinary
greatness ; sometimes tenne, sixe Sagbuts and foure
Beautiful Cornets ; sometimes two, a Cornet and a treble violl. Of
71 Jf *
those treble viols I heard three severall there, whereof
each was so good, especially one that I observed above
the rest, that I never heard the like before. Those that
played upon the treble viols, sung and played together,
and sometimes two singular fellowes played together upon
Theorboes, to which they sung also, who yeelded admir
able sweet musicke, but so still that they could
39
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
scarce be heard but by those that were very neare
them. These two Theorbists concluded that nights
musicke, which continued three whole howers at the
least. For they beganne about five of the clocke,
and ended not before eight. Also it continued as
long in the morning : at every time that every severall
musicke played, the Organs, whereof there are seven faire
paire in that room, standing al in a rowe together, plaied
with them. Of the singers there were three or foure so The Singers.
excellent that I thinke few or none in Christendome do
excell them, especially one, who had such a peerelesse and
(as I may in a maner say) such a supernaturall voice for
such a privilege for the sweetnesse of his voice, as
sweetnesse, that I think there was never a better singer
in all the world, insomuch that he did not onely give the
most pleasant contentment that could be imagined, to
all the hearers, but also did as it were astonish and amaze
them. I alwaies thought that he was an Eunuch, which
if he had beene, it had taken away some part of my admira
tion, because they do most commonly sing passing wel ;
but he was not, therefore it was much the more admirable. A _ Wonderful
Againe it was the more worthy of admiration, because he
was a middle-aged man, as about forty yeares old. For
nature doth more commonly bestowe such a singularitie [p. 253-]
of voice upon boyes and striplings, then upon men of
such yeares. Besides it was farre the more excellent,
because it was nothing forced, strained, or affected, but
came from him with the greatest facilitie that ever
I heard. Truely I thinke that had a Nightingale
beene in the same roome, and contended with him
for the superioritie, something perhaps he might ex-
cell him, because God hath granted that little birde
such a priviledge for the sweetnesse of his voice, as
to none other : but I thinke he could not much. To
conclude, I attribute so much to this rare fellow for his
singing, that I thinke the country where he was borne,
may be as proude for breeding so singular a person as
Smyrna was of her Homer, Verona of her Catullus, or
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
A luxurious
Friar.
[p. 254.]
Two men
tormented.
Mantua of Virgil : But exceeding happy may that Citie,
or towne, or person bee that possesseth this miracle of
nature. These musitians had bestowed upon them by
that company of Saint Roche an hundred duckats, which
is twenty three pound sixe shillings eight pence starling.
Thus much concerning the musicke of those famous
feastes of St. Laurence, the Assumption of our Lady,
and Saint Roche.
There is one very memorable thing (besides all the
rest that I have before named) to be scene in Venice,
if it be true that I heard reported of it ; even the head
of a certaine Fryer which is set upon the top of one of
their steeples : He was beheaded for his monstrous and
inordinate luxury, as some affirme. For I heard many
say in Venice that he begat with childe no lesse then ninety
nine Nunnes, and that if his courage had served him to
have begotten one more with child, that he might have
made up the full number of an hundred, his life should
have beene saved. I asked many Venetians whether this
were true, who denied it unto me, but with such a kinde
of smiling and laughter, that that denying seemed a kinde
of confessing of the matter. Againe some others extenu
ating the haynousnesse of the crime, told me that that
was but a meere fable, and said the truth was, that he
committed sacriledge by robbing one of the Churches of
the Citie, stealing away their Chalices and other things of
greatest worth ; after the which he fled out of the Venetian
Signiorie : but being afterward apprehended, he was
executed for this fact, and not for the other.
On the fourth day of August being Thursday, I saw
a very Tragicall and dolefull spectacle in Saint Markes
place. Two men tormented with the strapado, which is
done in this manner. The offender having his hands
bound behind him, is conveighed into a rope that hangeth
in a pully, and after hoysed up in the rope to a great
heigth with two severall swinges, where he sustaineth so
great torments that his joynts are for the time loosed and
pulled asunder ; besides such abundance of bloud is
39 2
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
gathered into his hands and face, that for the time he is
in the torture, his face and hands doe looke as red as
fire.
The manuary artes of the Venetians are so exquisite Manuary
and curious, that I thinke no artificers in the world doe ^ rts f the
11 .1 11 -pi T Venetians.
excell them in some, especially painting, ror 1 saw two
things in a painters shop in Saint Markes, which I did
not a little admire ; the one was the picture of a hinder
quarter of Veal hanged up in his shop, which a stranger
at the first sight would imagine to be a naturall and true
quarter of veal ; but it was not : For it was only a
counterfeit of a hinder quarter of veale, the rarest inven
tion that ever I saw before. The other was the picture
of a Gentlewoman, whose eies were contrived with that
singularitie of cunning, that they moved up and down
of themselves, not after a seeming manner, but truly and
indeed. For I did very exactly view it. But I beleeve
it was done by a vice which the Grecians call avro/u-arov.
Also I observed another thing in the same shop that gave The picture of
me great contentment, the picture of famous Cassandra assan ra
that was commonly styled Fidelis Veneta Puella. Shee
was in her time esteemed the very Phcenix and mirror of [p. 255.]
all the women in Christendome for learning. Truly it
did much the more comfort me to see her picture, because
learned Angelus Politianus wrote a most elegant Epistle
unto her with this beginning : O decus Italiae virgo, &c.
which I have often read in the booke of his Epistles, and
that with more pleasure and delight then any other of his
Epistles, though they are all passing sweete, Atticis lepori-
bus inspersae, & Hyblaeo melle dulciores.
The burials are so strange both in Venice, and all other Strange
Z? /
Cities, Townes, and parishes of Italy, that they differ not
onely from England, but from all other nations whatsoever
in Christendome. For they carry the Corse to Church
with the face, handes and feete all naked, and wearing
the same apparell that the person wore lately before it
died, or that which it craved to be buried in : which
apparell is interred together with their bodies. Also I
393
CORYATS CRUDITIES
observed another thing in their burials that savoreth of
intolerable superstition : many a man that hath beene a
vitious and licentious liver, is buried in the habits of a
Franciscan Frier ; the reason forsooth is, because they
Virtue in a beleeve there is such virtue in the Friers cowle, that it
Friar s cowl, will procure them remission of the third part of their
sinnes : a most fond and impious opinion. We in Eng
land do hope, and so doth every good Christian besides,
to obtaine remission of our sinnes, through the meere
merites of Christ, and not by wearing of a Friers frocke,
to whom we attribute no more virtue than to a Bardocu-
cullus, that is, a Shepheards ragged and weather beaten
cloake.
Also there is another very superstitious custome used
not only in Venice, but also in all other cities and townes
of Italy where I have beene, which is likewise observed
(as I understand) in all cities townes, and parishes
whatsoever of all Italy, in which they differ (as I thinke)
from all Christian Nations, that at noone and the setting
of the sunne, all men, women and children must kneele,
and say their Ave Maria bare-headed wheresoever they
are, eyther in their houses or in the streets, when the
Ave Marie bell ringeth. Gesner writeth in his Biblio-
theca, that that worthy man Josias Simlerus Tigurinus
wrote a learned Dialogue concerning this subject, whether
it were lawfull to pray bare headed, eyther at noone, or
the evening at the ringing of this Ave Marie bell. But
this Booke was but a manuscript and never printed : I
thinke it doth taxe this custome ; for truely it is super
stitious and worthy the taxing.
There happened at the time of my being in Venice a
yer ^ p roc [igious thing upon the first day of July being
Friday. For that day there fell a shower of haile, lasting
for the space of halfe an houre, that yeelded stones as
great as Pigeons egges ; a thing that amazed all that
beheld it. Also there was another strange thing that fel
out when I was there : the ball or globe of a certaine
Tower in the citie, together with the crosse that stood
394
[p. 256.]
A prodigious
shower of hatl.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
thereon, was so extremely scorched with lightning, that
it was turned coale black. For indeede two or three nights
one after another it lightned as terribly in Venice as ever
I saw in my life, and that most incessantly for many houres
together.
Amongst many other things that moved great admira
tion in me in Venice, this was not the least, to consider
the marveilous affluence and exuberancy of all things
tending to the sustentation of mans life. For albeit they
have neyther meadows, nor pastures, nor arable grounds
neare their city (which is a matter impossible, because it
is seated in the sea, and distinguished with such a multi- The victual-
tude of channels) to yeeld them corne and victuals : yet ling of Venice.
they have as great abundance (a thing very strange to be
considered) or victuals, corne and fruites of all sorts what
soever, as any city (I thinke) of all Italy. Their victuals
and all other provision being very plenteously ministred
unto them from Padua, Vicenza, and other bordering [p. 257.]
townes and places of Lombardy, which are in their owne
dominion. For I have seene their shambles and market
places (whereof they have a great multitude) exceedingly
well furnished with all manner of necessaries. As for Great plenty
their fruits I have observed wonderful plenty amongst ff rutti -
them, as Grapes, Peares, Apples, Plummes, Apricockes :
all which are sold by weight, and not by tale : Figges
most excellent of three or foure sorts, as blacke, which
are the daintiest, greene, and yellow. Likewise they had
another special commodity when I was there, which is
one of the most delectable dishes for a Sommer fruite of
all Christendome, namely muske Melons. I wondered Musk melons.
at the plenty of them ; for there was such store brought
into the citie every morning and evening for the space
of a moneth together, that not onely St. Markes place,
but also all the market places of the citie were super
abundantly furnished with them : insomuch that I thinke
there were sold so many of them every day for that space,
as yeelded five hundred pound sterling. They are of
three sorts, yellow, greene, and redde, but the red is most
395
[p. 258.]
The fruit
called An
guria.
Tortoises.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
roothsome of all. The great long banke whereof I have
before spoken, which is interjected as a strong Rampier
betwixt the Adriatique sea and the citie, even the Litto
maggior, doth yeeld the greatest store of these Melons
Good counsel, that are brought to Venice. But I advise thee (gentle
Reader) if thou meanest to see Venice, and shall happen
to be there in the sommer time when they are ripe, to
abstaine from the immoderate eating of them. For the
sweetnesse of them is such as hath allured many men
to eate so immoderately of them, that they have therewith
hastened their untimely death : the fruite being indeed
yXvicv irucpov that is, sweete-sowre. Sweete in the palate,
but sowre in the stomacke, if it be not soberly eaten. For
it doth often breede the Dysenteria, that is, the bloudy
fluxe : of which disease the Emperour Fredericke the
third died by the intemperate eating of them, as I will
hereafter declare in my observations of Germany. Also
they have another excellent fruite called Anguria, the
coldest fruit in taste that ever I did eate : the pith of
it, which is in the middle, is as redde as blood, and full
of blacke kernels. They finde a notable commodity of
it in sommer, for the cooling of themselves in time of
heate. For it hath the most refrigerating vertue of all
the fruites of Italy. Moreover the abundance of fish,
which is twise a day brought into the citie, is so great,
that they have not onely exceeding plenty for themselves,
but also doe communicate that commodity to their neigh
bour townes. Amongst many other strange fishes that
I have observed in their market places, I have seene many
Torteises, whereof I never saw but one in all England.
Besides they have great plenty of fowle, and such admir
able variety thereof, that I have heard in the citie they
are furnished with no lesse then two hundred severall
sortes of them. I have observed a thing amongst the
Venetians, that I have not a little wondred at, that their
Gentlemen and greatest Senators, a man worth perhaps
two millions of duckats, will come into the market, and
buy their flesh, fish, fruites, and such other things as are
396
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
necessary for the maintenance of their family : a token
indeed of frugality, which is commendable in all men ; Commendable
but me thinkes it is not an argument of true generosity, f ru S altt y-
that a noble spirit should deject it selfe to these petty and
base matters, that are fitter to be done by servants then
men of a generose parentage. Therefore I commend
mine owne countrey-man, the English Gentleman, that
scorneth to goe into the market to buy his victuals and
other necessaries for house-keeping, but employeth his
Cooke or Cator about those inferior and sordid affaires.
It is said there are of all the Gentlemen of Venice,
which are there called Clarissimoes, no lesse then three
thousand, all which when they goe abroad out of their
houses, both they that beare office, and they that are pri- [p- 259.]
vate, doe weare gownes : wherein they imitate f Romanes
rerum Dominos, gentemque togatam. Most of their Gou J ^
gownes are made of blacke cloth, and over their left ^
shoulder they have a flappe made of the same cloth, and
edged with blacke Taffata : Also most of their gownes
are faced before with blacke Taffata : There are others
also that weare other gownes according to their distinct
offices and degrees ; as they that are of the Councell of
tenne (which are as it were the maine body of the whole
estate) doe most commonly weare blacke chamlet gownes,
with marvielous long sleeves, that reach almost downe to
the ground. Againe they that weare red chamlet gownes Red GOZi n
,
with long sleeves, are those that are called Savi, whereof
some have authority onely by land, as being the principall
Overseers of the Podesta es and Praetors in their land
cities, and some by Sea. There are others also that weare
blew cloth gownes with blew flapps over their shoulders,
edged with Taffata. These are the Secretaries of the
Councell of tenne. Upon every great festivall day the
Senators, and greatest Gentlemen that accompany the Duke
to Church, or to any other place, doe weare crimson
damaske gownes, with flappes of crimson velvet cast over
their left shoulders. Likewise the Venetian Knights
t Virgil. ^Enei. I.
397
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Dress of the
Knights.
Venetian
attire very
ancient.
[p. 260.]
English
fashions in
ferior.
weare blacke damaske gownes with long sleeves : but
hereby they are distinguished from the other Gentlemen.
For they weare red apparell under their gownes, red silke
stockings, and red pantafles. All these gowned men doe
weare marveilous little blacke flat caps of felt, without any
brimmes at all, and- very diminutive falling bandes, no
ruffes at all, which are so shallow, that I have seene many
of them not above a little inch deepe. The colour that
they most affect and use for their other apparel, I mean
doublet, hose, and jerkin, is blacke : a colour of gravity
and decency. Besides the forme and fashion of their attire
is both very auncient, even the same that hath beene used
these thousand yeares amongst them, and also uniforme.
For all of them use but one and the same forme of habite,
even the slender doublet made close to the body, without
much quilting or bombase, and long hose plaine, without
those new fangled curiosities, and ridiculous superfluities
of panes, plaites, and other light toyes used with us
English men. Yet they make it of costly stuffe, well
beseeming Gentlemen and eminent persons of their place,
as of the best Taffates, and Sattins that Christendome
doth yeeld, which are fairely garnished also with lace of
the best sort. In both these things they much differ
from us English men. For whereas they have but one
colour, we use many more then are in the Rain-bow, all
the most light, garish, and unseemely colours that are in
the world. Also for fashion we are much inferiour to
them. For we weare more phantasticall fashions then
any Nation under the Sunne doth, the French onely
excepted ; which hath given occasion both to the Venetian
and other Italians to brand the English-man with a notable
marke of levity, by painting him starke naked with a paire
of shears in his hand, making his fashion of attire accord
ing to the vaine invention of his braine-sicke head, not
to comelinesse and decorum.
But to returne to these gowned Gentlemen : I observed
an extraordinary custome amongst them, that when two
acquaintances meete and talke together at the walking
398
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
times of the day, whereof I have before spoken, eyther
in the Dukes Palace, or S. Markes place, they give a
mutuall kisse when they depart from each other, by kissing Salutations.
one anothers cheeke : a custome that I never saw before,
nor heard of, nor read of in any history. Likewise when
they meete onely and not talke, they give a low congie
to each other by very civill and courteous gestures, as by
bending of their bodies, and clapping their right hand
upon their breastes, without uncovering of their heads, [p. 261.]
which sometimes they use, but very seldome.
Most of the women when they walke abroad, especially Veikdwomen.
to Church, are vailed with long vailes, whereof some doe
reache almost to the ground behinde. These vailes are
eyther blacke, or white, or yellowish. The blacke eyther
wives or widowes do weare : the white maides, and so the
yellowish also ; but they weare more white then yellowish.
It is the custome of these maydes when they walke in
the streetes, to cover their faces with their vailes, vere-
cundiae causa, the stuffe being so thin and slight, that they
may easily looke through it. For it is made of a pretty
slender silke, and very finely curled : so that because she
thus hoodwinketh her selfe, you can very seldome see
her face at full when she walketh abroad, though perhaps
you earnestly desire it, but only a little glimpse thereof.
Now whereas I said before that onely maydes doe weare
white vailes, and none else, I meane these white silke
curled vayles, which (as they tolde me) none doe weare
but maydes. But other white vayles wives doe much wives veils.
weare, such as are made of holland, whereof the greatest
part is handsomely edged with great and very faire bone-
lace. Almost all the wives, widowes and mayds do walke
abroad with their breastes all naked, and many of them
have their backes also naked even almost to the middle,
which some do cover with a slight linnen, as cobwebbe
lawne, or such other thinne stuffe : a fashion me thinkes
very uncivill and unseemely, especially if the beholder
might plainly see them. For I beleeve unto many that
have prurientem libidinem, they would minister a great
399
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
. 262.]
Chapineys.
incentive & fomentation of luxurious desires. Howbeit
it is much used both in Venice and Padua. For very
few of them do weare bands but only Gentlewomen, and
those do weare little lawne or cambricke ruffes. There
is one thing used of the Venetian women, and some
others dwelling in the cities and towns subject to the
Signiory of Venice, that is not to be observed (I thinke)
amongst any other women in Christendome : which is
so common in Venice, that no woman whatsoever goeth
without it, either in her house or abroad ; a thing made
of wood, and covered with leather of sundry colors, some
with white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a
Chapiney, which they weare under their shoes. Many
of them are curiously painted ; some also I have seene
fairely gilt : so uncomely a thing (in my opinion) that
it is pitty this foolish custom is not cleane banished and
exterminated out of the citie. There are many of these
Chapineys of a great heigth, even half a yard high, which
maketh many of their women that are very short, seeme
much taller then the tallest women we have in England.
Also I have heard that this is observed amongst them,
that by how much the nobler a woman is, by so much
the higher are her Chapineys. All their Gentlewomen,
and most of their wives and widowes that are of any
wealth, are assisted and supported eyther by men or
women when they walke abroad, to the end they may
not fall. They are borne up most commonly by the
left arme, otherwise they might quickly take a fall. For
I saw a woman fall a very dangerous fall, as she was going
down the staires of one of the little stony bridges with
her high Chapineys alone by her selfe : but I did nothing
pitty her, because shee wore such frivolous and (as I may
truely terme them) ridiculous instruments, which were the
occasion of her fall. For both I my selfe, and many other
strangers (as I have observed in Venice) have often laughed
at them for their vaine Chapineys.
Head dress of All the women of Venice every Saturday in the after-
the women. nO one doe use to annoint their haire with oyle, or some
400
Dangerous
instruments.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
other f drugs, to the end to make it looke faire, that is
whitish. For that colour is most affected of the Venetian
Dames and Lasses. And in this manner they do it : first
they put on a readen hat, without any crowne at all, but
brimmes of exceeding breadth and largeness : then they [p- 263.]
sit in some sun-shining place in a chamber or some other
secret roome, where having a looking-glasse before them
they sophisticate and dye their haire with the foresaid
drugs, and after cast it backe round upon the brimmes of Hair
the hat, till it be throughly dried with the heat of the dressing.
sunne : and last of all they curie it up in curious locks
with a frisling or crisping pinne of iron, which we cal in
Latin Calamistrum, the toppe whereof on both sides above
their forehead is acuminated in two peakes. That this
is true, I know by mine owne experience. For it was my
chaunce one day when I was in Venice, to stand by an
Englishman s wife, who was a Venetian woman borne,
while she was thus trimming of her haire : a favour not
affoorded to every stranger.
But since I have taken occasion to mention some notable The
particulars of their women, I will insist farther upon that ^ ourtesan *-
matter, and make relation of their Cortezans also, as being
a thing incident and very proper to this discourse, especially
because the name of a Cortezan of Venice is famoused
over all Christendome. And I have here inserted a picture
of one of their nobler Cortezans, according to her Venetian
habites, with my owne neare unto her, made in that forme
as we saluted each other. Surely by so much the more
willing I am to treate something of them, because I per
ceive it is so rare a matter to find a description of the
Venetian Cortezans in any Authour, that all the writers
that I could ever see, which have described the city, have
altogether excluded them out of their writings. There
fore seeing the History of these famous gallants is omitted
by all others that have written just Commentaries of the
f These kind of ointments wherewith women were wont to annoint
their haire, were heretofore called Capillaria unguenta. Turnebus
Adversari. lib. I. ca. 7.
C. C. 401 2 C
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Venetian state, as I know it is not impertinent to this
present Discourse to write of them ; so I hope it will
not be ungratefull to the Reader to reade that of these
notable persons, which no Author whatsoever doth impart
[p. 264.] un to him but my selfe. Onely I feare least I shall
expose my selfe to the severe censure and scandalous
imputations of many carping Criticks, who I thinke will
taxe me for luxury and wantonnesse to insert so lascivious
a matter into this Treatise of Venice. Wherefore at the
end of this discourse of the Cortezans I will adde some
Apologie for my selfe, which I hope will in some sort
satisfie them, if they are not too captious.
The woman that professeth this trade is called in the
Italian tongue Cortezana, which word is derived from the
Italian word cortesia that signifieth courtesie. Because
these kinde of women are said to receive courtesies of
their favourites. Which word hath some kinde of affinitie
with the Greeke word eratpa which signifieth properly a
sociable woman, and is by Demosthenes, Athenaeus, and
divers other prose writers often taken for a woman of a
Their number dissolute conversation. As for the number of these
Venetian Cortezans it is very great. For it is thought
there are of them in the whole City and other adjacent
places, as Murano, Malomocco, &c. at the least twenty
thousand, whereof many are esteemed so loose, that they
are said to open their quivers to every arrow. A most
ungodly thing without doubt that there should be a
tolleration of such licentious wantons in so glorious, so
potent, so renowned a city. For me thinks that the
Venetians should be daylie affraid least their winking at
such uncleannesse should be an occasion to draw down
upon them Gods curses and vengeance from heaven, and
to consume their city with fire and brimstone, as in times
past he did Sodome and Gomorrha. But they not fearing
any such thing doe graunt large dispensation and indulg
ence unto them, and that for these two causes. First, ad
vitanda majora mala. For they thinke that the chastity
of their wives would be the sooner assaulted, and so
402
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
consequently they should be capricornified, (which of all
the indignities in the world the Venetian cannot patiently
endure) were it not for these places of evacuation. But [p. 265.]
I marvaile how that should be true though these Cortezans
were utterly rooted out of the City. For the Gentlemen
do even coope up their wives alwaies within the walles of
their houses for feare of these inconveniences, as much as
if there were no Cortezans at all in the City. So that
you shall very seldome see a Venetian Gentleman s wife
but either at the solemnization of a great marriage, or at
the Christning of a Jew, or late in the evening rowing
in a Gondola. The second cause is for that the revenues Great
which they pay unto the Senate for their tolleration, doe reve " ues P atel
J \ J r 1 1 1 i to ( he State.
mamtame a dozen or their galleys, (as many reported unto
me in Venice) and so save them a great charge. The
consideration of these two things hath moved them to
tolerate for the space of these many hundred yeares these
kinde of Laides and Thaides, who may as fitly be termed
the stales of Christendome as those were heretofore of
Greece. For so infinite are the allurements of these
amorous Calypsoes, that the fame of them hath drawen
many to Venice from some of the remotest parts of
Christendome, to contemplate their beauties, and enjoy
their pleasing dalliances. And indeede such is the variety
of the delicious objects they minister to their lovers, that
they want nothing tending to delight. For when you
come into one of their Palaces (as indeed some few of the
principallest of them live in very magnificent and portly
buildings fit for the entertainement of a great Prince) you
seeme to enter into the Paradise of Venus. For their The Paradise
fairest roomes are most glorious and glittering to behold. f Venus -
The walles round about being adorned with most sumptu
ous tapistry and gilt leather, such as I have spoken of in
my Treatise of Padua. Besides you may see the picture
of the noble Cortezan most exquisitely drawen. As for
her selfe shee comes to thee decked like the Queene and
Goddesse of love, in so much that thou wilt thinke she
made a late transmigration from Paphos, Cnidos, or [p. 266.]
403
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Cythera, the auncient habitations of Dame Venus. For
her face is adorned with the quintessence of beauty. In
her cheekes thou shalt see the Lilly and the Rose strive
for the supremacy, and the silver tramels of her haire
displayed in that curious manner besides her two frisled
peakes standing up like prety Pyramides, that they give
thee the true Cos amoris. But if thou hast an exact
judgement, thou maist easily discerne the effects of those
Apothecary famous apothecary drugs heretofore used amongst the
Noble Ladies of Rome, even stibium, cerussa, and pur-
purissum. For few of the Cortezans are so much
beholding to nature, but that they adulterate their faces,
and supply her defect with one of these three. A thing
so common amongst them, that many of them which have
an elegant naturall beauty, doe varnish their faces (the
observation whereof made me not a little pitty their
vanities) with these kinde of sordid trumperies. Wherein
me thinks they seeme ebur atramento candefacere, accord
ing to that excellent *Proverbe of Plautus ; that is, to
make ivorie white with inke. Also the ornaments of her
body are so rich, that except thou dost even geld thy
affections (a thing hardly to be done) or carry with thee
Ulysses hearbe called Moly which is mentioned by Homer,
that is, some antidote against those Venereous titillations,
shee wil very neare benumme and captivate thy senses, and
Costly gems, make reason vale bonnet to affection. For thou shalt see
her decked with many chaines of gold and orient pearle
like a second Cleopatra, (but they are very litle) divers
gold rings beautified with diamonds and other costly stones,
jewels in both her eares of great worth. A gowne of
damaske (I speake this of the nobler Cortizans) either
decked with a deep gold fringe (according as I have
expressed it in the picture of the Cortizan that I have
placed about the beginning of this discourse) or laced with
five or sixe gold laces each two inches broade. Her petti-
[p. 267.] coate of red chamlet edged with rich gold fringe, stockings
of carnasion silke, her breath and her whole body, the
* Eras. ada. Chil. i Cent. 3. adag. 70.
404
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
more to enamour thee, most fragrantly perfumed. Though
these things will at the first sight seeme unto thee most
delectable allurements, yet if thou shalt rightly weigh them
in the scales of a mature judgement, thou wilt say with
the wise man, and that very truely, that they are like a
golden ring in a swines snowt. Moreover shee will
endevour to enchaunt thee partly with her melodious notes
that she warbles out upon her lute, which shee fingers
with as laudable a stroake as many men that are excellent
professors in the noble science of Musicke ; and partly
with that heart-tempting harmony of her voice. Also
thou wilt finde the Venetian Cortezan (if she be a selected
woman indeede) a good Rhetorician, and a most elegant
discourser, so that if she cannot move thee with all these R/ietonctans -
foresaid delights, shee will assay thy constancy with her
Rhetoricall tongue. And to the end shee may minister
unto thee the stronger temptations to come to her lure,
shee will shew thee her chamber of recreation, where thou
shalt see all manner of pleasing objects, as many faire
painted coffers wherewith it is garnished round about, a
curious milke-white canopy of needle worke, a silke quilt
embrodered with gold : and generally all her bedding
sweetly perfumed. And amongst other amiable ornaments
shee will shew thee one thing only in her chamber tending
to mortification, a matter strange amongst so many irrita-
menta malorum ; even the picture of our Lady by her
bedde side, with Christ in her armes, placed within a
cristall glasse. But beware notwithstanding all these
illecebrae & lenocinia amoris, that thou enter not into
termes of private conversation with her. For then thou
shalt finde her such a one as Lipsius truly cals her, callidam
& calidam Solis filiam, that is, the crafty and hot daughter
of the Sunne. Moreover I will tell thee this newes which
is most true, that if thou shouldest wantonly converse [p. 268.]
with her, and not give her that salarium iniquitatis, which
thou hast promised her, but perhaps cunningly escape from
her company, shee will either cause thy throate to be cut
by her Rurfiano, if he can after catch thee in the City, or
45
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
procure thee to be arrested (if thou art to be found) and
clapped up in the prison, where thou shalt remaine till thou
hast paid her all thou didst promise her. Therefore for
fs avoiding of those inconveniences, I will give thee the same
counsel. counsell that Lipsius did to a friend of his that was to
travell into Italy, even to furnish thy selfe with a double
armour, the one for thine eyes, the other for thine eares.
As for thine eyes, shut them and turne them aside from
these venereous Venetian objects. For they are the
double windowes that conveigh them to thy heart. Also
thou must fortifie thine eares against the attractive
inchauntments of their plausible speeches. Therefore
even as wrestlers were wont heretofore to fence their eares
against al exterior annoyances, by putting to them certaine
instruments called a/m(pwTi$e$ : so doe thou take unto thy
selfe this firme foundation against the amorous woundes
of the Venetian Cortezans, to heare none of their wanton
toyes ; or if thou wilt needes both see and heare them,
doe thou only cast thy breath upon them in that manner
as we doe upon steele, which is no sooner on but incon
tinent it falleth off againe : so doe thou only breath a few
words upon them, and presently be gone from them : for
if thou dost linger with them thou wilt finde their poyson
to be more pernicious then that of the scorpion, aspe, or
cocatrice. Amongst other things that I heard of these
kinde of women in Venice, one is this, that when their Cos
amoris beginneth to decay, when their youthfull vigor
A strange end. is spent, then they consecrate the dregs of their olde age
to God by going into a Nunnery, having before
dedicated the flower of their youth to the divell;
some of them also having scraped together so much
[p. 269.] pelfe by their sordid facultie as doth maintaine them
well in their old age : For many of them are as rich
as ever was Rhodope in Egypt, Flora in Rome, or Lais in
Corinth. One example whereof I have before mentioned
in Margarita .ZEmiliana that built a faire Monastery of
Augustinian Monkes. There is one most notable thing
more to be mentioned concerning these Venetian Corte-
406
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
zans, with the relation whereof I will end this discourse
of them. If any of them happen to have any children
(as indeede they have but few, for according to the old
proverbe the best carpenters make the fewest chips) they
are brought up either at their own charge, or in a certaine
house of the citie appointed for no other use but onely
for the bringing up of the Cortezans bastards, which I saw
Eastward above Saint Markes streete neare to the sea side.
In the south wall of which building that looketh towards
the sea, I observed a certaine yron grate inserted into a
hollow peece of the wall, betwixt which grace and a plaine
stone beneath it, there is a convenient little space to put
in an infant. Hither doth the mother or some body for ^ notable
her bring the child shortly after it is borne into the world ; custom -
and if the body of it be no greater, but that it may con
veniently without any hurt to the infant bee conveighed
in at the foresaid space, they put it in there without
speaking at all to any body that is in the house to take
charge thereof. And from thenceforth the mother is
absolutely discharged of her child. But if the child bee
growne to that bignesse that they cannot conveigh it
through that space, it is carryed backe againe to the
mother, who taketh charge of it her selfe, and bringeth it
up as well as she can. Those that are brought up in this
foresaid house, are removed therehence when they come to
yeares of discretion, and many of the male children are
employed in the warres, or to serve in the Arsenall, or
Galleys at sea, or some other publique service for the
Common weale. And many of the females if they bee
faire doe matrizare, that is, imitate their mothers in their [p. 27-]
gainfull facultie, and get their living by prostituting their
bodies to their favourites. Thus have I described unto
thee the Venetian Cortezans ; but because I have related
so many particulars of them, as few Englishmen that have
lived many yeares in Venice, can do the like, or at the
least if they can, they will not upon their returne into
England, I beleeve thou wilt cast an aspersion of wanton-
nesse upon me, and say that I could not know all these
407
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
matters without mine owne experience. I answere thee,
that although I might have knowne them without my
experience, yet for my better satisfaction, I went to one of
their noble houses (I wil confesse) to see the manner of
their life, and observe their behaviour, but not with such
an intent as we reade Demosthenes went to Lais, to the
end to pay something for repentance ; but rather as
Panutius did to Thais, of whom we read that when he
came to her, and craved a secret roome for his pastime,
she should answere him that the same roome where they
were together, was secret enough, because no body could
see them but onely God ; upon which speech the godly
man tooke occasion to persuade her to the feare of God
and religion, and to the reformation of her licentious life,
since God was able to prie into the secretest corners of the
world. And so at last converted her by this meanes from
a wanton Cortezan to a holy and religious woman. In
like manner I both wished the conversion of the Cortezan
that I saw, and did my endevour by perswasive termes to
convert her, though my speeches could not take the like
effect that those of Panutius did. Withall I went thither
partly to the end to see whether those things were true
that I often heard before both in England, France, Savoy,
Italy, and also in Venice it selfe concerning these famous
women, for
Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures
quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, & quse
[p. 271.] ipse sibi tradit spectator
Neither can I be perswaded that it ought to be esteemed
for a staine or blemish to the reputation of an honest and
ingenuous man to see a Cortezan in her house, and note
her manners and conversation, because according to the
The know-^ Q \& maxime, Cognitio mali non est mala, the knowledge
ledge of evil Q f ev ^j j g not ev [\\ |- )ut fa e p rac tice and execution thereof.
is not evil. T- T 1 i 1 MI i
bor 1 thinke that a virtuous man will be the more con
firmed and settled in virtue by the observation of some
vices, then if he did not at all know what they were. For
408
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
which cause we may read that the auncient Lacedemonians
were wont sometimes to make their slaves drunke, which
were called Helotae, and so present them to their children
in the middest of their drunken pangs, to the end that by
seeing the uglinesse of that vice in others, they might
the more loath and detest it in themselves all the dayes
of their life afterward : as for mine owne part I would
have thee consider that even as the river Rhodanus (to
use that most excellent comparison, that eloquent Kirch-
nerus doth in his Oration that I have prefixed before this
booke) doth passe through the lake Losanna, and yet
mingleth not his waters therewith ; and as the Fountain
Arethusa runneth through the Sea, and confoundeth not
her fresh water with the salt liquor of the sea ; and as
the beames of the Sunne doe penetrate into many uncleane
places, and yet are nothing polluted with the impuritie
thereof : so did I visite the Palace of a noble Cortezan,
view her own amorous person, heare her talke, observe
her fashion of life, and. yet was nothing contaminated
therewith, nor corrupted in maner. Therefore I instantly
request thee (most candid reader) to be as charitably con
ceited of me, though I have at large deciphered and as it
were anatomized a Venetian Cortezan unto thee, as thou
wouldest have me of thy selfe upon the like request.
I hope it will not be esteemed for an impertinencie to The Mounte-
my discourse, if I next speake of the Mountebanks of & an *f f
Venice, seeing amongst many other thinges that doe much .- entce -,
famouse this Citie, these two sorts of people, namely the
Cortezans and the Mountebanks, are not the least : for
although there are Mountebanks also in other Cities of
Italy ; yet because there is a greater concurse of them in
Venice then else where, and that of the better sort and the
most eloquent fellowes ; and also for that there is a larger
tolleration of them here then in other Cities (for in Rome,
&c. they are restrained from certain matters as I have heard
which are heere allowed them) therefore they use to name a
Venetian Mountebanke KUT e^o^v for the coryphaeus and
principall Mountebanke of all Italy : neither doe I much
409
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
doubt but that this treatise of them will be acceptable to
some readers, as being a meere novelty never before heard
of (I thinke) by thousands of our English Gallants.
Surely the principall reason that hath induced me to make
mention of them is, because when I was in Venice, they
oftentimes ministred infinite pleasure unto me. I will
first beginne with the etymologic of their name : the word
Mountebanke (being in the Italian tongue Monta inbanco)
is compounded of two Italian words. Montare which
signifieth to ascend or goe up to a place, and banco a bench,
because these fellowes doe act their part upon a stage,
which is compacted of benches or fourmes, though I have
seene some fewe of them also stand upon the ground when
they tell their tales, which are such as are commonly called
Ciaratanoe s or Ciarlatans, in Latin they are called Circula-
tores and Aoyrtae, which is derived from the Greeke worde
ayelpeiv which signifieth to gather or draw a company of
The place of people together, in Greek Oav/maTOTroioi. The principall
their acting. p] ace w here they act, is the first part of Saint Marks street
that reacheth betwixt the West front of S. Marks Church,
and the opposite front of Saint Geminians Church. In
which, twice a day, that is, in the morning and in the after-
[p. 273.] noone, you may see five or sixe severall stages erected for
them : those that act upon the ground, even the foresaid
Ciarlatans being of the poorer sort of them, stand most
commonly in the second part of S. Marks, not far from the
gate of the Dukes Palace. These Mountebanks at one
end of their stage place their trunke, which is replenished
with a world of new-fangled trumperies. After the whole
rabble of them is gotten up to the stage, whereof some
weare visards being disguised like fooles in a play, some
Women t na t are women (for there are divers women also amongst
Mountebanks, ^g^ are at tyred with habits according to that person that
they sustaine ; after (I say) they are all upon the stage, the
musicke begins. Sometimes vocall, sometimes instru-
mentall, and sometimes both together. This musicke is a
preamble and introduction to the ensuing matter : in the
meane time while the musicke playes, the principall
410
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
Mountebanke which is the Captaine and ring-leader of all
the rest, opens his truncke, and sets abroach his wares ;
after the musicke hath ceased, he maketh an oration to the
audience of halfe an houre long, or almost an houre.
Wherein he doth most hyperbolically extoll the vertue of
his drugs and confections :
Laudat venales qui vult extrudere merces.
Though many of them are very counterfeit and false.
Truely I often wondred at many of these naturall Orators.
For they would tell their tales with such admirable volu
bility and plausible grace, even extempore, and seasoned
with that singular variety of elegant jests and witty con
ceits, that they did often strike great admiration into
strangers that never heard them before : and by how much
the more eloquent these Naturalists are, by so much the
greater audience they draw unto them, and the more ware
they sell. After the chiefest Mountebankes first speech
is ended, he delivereth out his commodities by little and
little, the jester still playing his part, and the musitians
singing and playing upon their instruments. The princi- [p. 274.]
pall things that they sell are oyles, soveraigne waters,
amorous songs printed, Apothecary drugs, and a Common-
weale of other trifles. The head Mountebanke at every The head
time that he delivereth out any thing, maketh an extern- Mountbank -
porall speech, which he doth eftsoones intermingle with
such savory jests (but spiced now and then with singular
scurrility) that they minister passing mirth and laughter
to the whole company, which perhaps may consist of a
thousand people that flocke together about one of their
stages. For so many according to my estimation I have
seene giving attention to some notable eloquent Mounte
banke. I have observed marveilous strange matters done
by some of these Mountebankes. For I saw one of them Strange
holde a viper in his hand, and play with his sting a quarter matters -
of an houre together, and yet receive no hurt ; though
another man should have beene presently stung to death
with it. He made us all beleeve that the same viper was
411
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
linealy descended from the generation of that viper that
lept out of the fire upon f S. Pauls hand, in the Island of
Melita now called Malta, and did him no hurt ; and told
us moreover that it would sting some, and not others.
Also I have seene a Mountebanke hackle and gash his
naked arme with a knife most pittifully to beholde, so
that the blood hath streamed out in great abundance, and
by and by after he hath applied a certaine oyle unto it,
wherewith he hath incontinent both stanched the blood,
and so throughly healed the woundes and gashes, that
when he hath afterward shewed us his arme againe, we
could not possibly perceive the least token of a gash.
Besides there was another black gowned Mountebanke
that gave most excellent contentment to the company
A blind that frequented his stage. This fellow was borne blind,
Mountebank. anc j so continued to that day : he never missed Saint
Markes place twise a day for sixe weekes together : he
was noted to be a singular fellow for singing extemporall
[p. 275.] songes, and for a pretty kinde of musicke that he made
with two bones betwixt his fingers. Moreover I have
seene some of them doe such strange jugling trickes as .
would be almost incredible to be reported. Also I have
observed this in them, that after they have extolled their
wares to the skies, having set the price of tenne crownes
upon some one of their commodities, they have at last
descended so low, that they have taken for it foure gazets,
which is something lesse then a groat. These merry
fellowes doe most commonly continue two good howres
upon the stage, and at last when they have fedde the
audience with such passing variety of sport, that they are
even cloyed with the superfluity of their conceits, and
have sold as much ware as they can, they remove their
trinkets and stage till the next meeting.
Thus much concerning the Mountebankes.
t Act. 28. 5.
412
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
THe heat of Venice about the hottest time of sommer The heat of
is oftentime very extreme, especially betwixt eleven emce *
of the clocke in the morning, and two in the afternoone,
insomuch that about noone you shall see very few in the
whole city walking abroad, but asleepe eyther in their
own houses, or in the publique walkes or other open
places abroad in the citie. For mine owne part I can
speake by experience, that for the whole time almost that
I was in Venice the heate was so intolerable, that I was
constrained to lie starke naked most commonly every
night, and could not endure any clothes at all upon me.
There are certaine desperate and resolute villaines in Deiperate
Venice, called Braves, who at some unlawfull times do
commit great villainy. They wander abroad very late in
the night to and fro for their prey, like hungry Lyons,
being armed with a privy coate of maile, a gauntlet upon
their right hand, and a little sharpe dagger called a
stiletto. They lurke commonly by the water side, and if
at their time of the night, which is betwixt eleven of the [p- 2 7 6 -]
clocke and two, they happen to meete any man that is
worth the rifling, they will presently stabbe him, take away
all about him that is of any worth, and when they have
throughly pulled his plumes, they will throw him into
one of the channels : but they buy this booty very deare
if they are after apprehended. For they are presently
executed.
I observed one thing in Venice that I utterly condemned, Street fights.
that if two men should fight together at sharpe openly in
the streets, whereas a great company will suddenly flocke
together about them, all of them will give them leave to
fight till their hearts ake, or till they welter in their owne
blood, but not one of them hath the honesty to part them,
and keepe them asunder from spilling each others blood :
also if one of the two should be slaine they will not offer
to apprehend him that slew the other (except the person
slaine be a Gentleman of the citie) but suffer him to go
at randome whither he list, without inflicting any punish
ment upon him. A very barbarous and unchristian thing
413
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
An English
galley-slave.
[P- 2 77-]
The ranks of
the Venetians.
An honour
able title.
to winke at such effusion of Christian blood, in which
they differ (in my opinion) from all Christians. The like
I understand is to be observed in Milan and other cities
of Italy.
There happened a thing when I was in Venice, that
moved great commiseration and sympathie in me : I saw
a certain English-man one Thomas Taylour, born in
Leicester-shire, endure great slavery in one of the Vene
tian galleys : for whose inlargement I did my utmost
endeavour, but all would not serve. I would to God he
had not committed that fault which deserved that con
demnation to the galleys. For indeed he tooke pay before
hand of the Venetians for service in their warres, and
afterward fled away. But being againe apprehended, they
have made him with many trickling teares repent his flying
from them.
There have beene some Authours that have distin
guished the orders or rankes of the Venetians into three
degrees, as the Patritians, the Merchants, and the Ple
beians : but for the most part they are divided into two,
the Patritians, which are otherwise called the Clarissimoes
or the Gentlemen, & the Plebeians. By the Patritians
are meant those that have the absolute sway and governe-
ment of the State or Signiory both by sea and land, and
administer justice at home and abroad. By the Plebeians
those of the vulgar sort that use mechanicall and manuarie
trades, and are excluded from all manner of authority in
the Common-weale.
The nobler families of the citie are these : the Candiani,
the Donati, the Gritti, the Justiniani, the Lauredani, the
Mocenigi, the Mauroceni, the Venerii, the Prioli, the
Barbari, the Contareni, Cornarii, the Gradenigi, the Dan-
dali, the Zani, the Falerii, the Malipetri, the Foscari : Of
all which families there have beene Dukes of the citie ;
also the Bragedini.
The name of a Gentleman of Venice is esteemed a title
of such eminent dignity and honour, that we shall reade
of two mighty Kings that did very ambitiously sue to be
414
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
invested with that title, and to be incorporated only by
way of name into the Gentility of the citie, namely the
King of Denmarke in the time of Duke Fuscarus about
the yeare 1425, when he tooke Venice in his way towards
Jerusalem, to see the holy Sepulchre : and Henry the third
of that name King of Fraunce, in the time of Duke
Mocenigus, Anno 1574. For they thought that the title
of a Venetian Gentleman would be no small ornament
and addition of grace to their royall dignity. Howbeit Frugal
these Gentlemen doe not maintaine and support the title gentlemen.
of their Gentility with a quarter of that noble state and
magnificence as our English Noblemen and Gentlemen of
the better sort doe. For they keepe no honourable hospi
tality, nor gallant retinue of servants about them, but a [p. 278.]
very frugall table, though they inhabite most beautifull
Palaces, and are inriched with as ample meanes to keepe
a brave port as some of our greatest English Earles. For
I have heard that the worst of five hundred of the princi-
pall Venetian Gentlemen is worth a million of duckats,
which is almost two hundred and fifty thousand pound
sterling, having in many places of Lombardy goodly
revenues yearly paid them, besides the possession of many
stately palaces. But I understand that the reason why
they so confine themselves within the bounds of frugality,
and avoyde that superfluity of expenses in housekeeping
that we Englishmen doe use, is, because they are restrained
by a certaine kinde of edict made by the Senate, that they
shall not keepe a retinue beyond their limitation.
It is a matter very worthy the consideration, to thinke Venice a
how this noble citie hath like a pure Virgin and incon- v " & m at y-
taminated mayde (in which sense I called her a mayden citie
in the front of my description of her, as also we reade in
the Scripture, 2 King. 19. 21. Jerusalem was called a
Virgin, because from the first foundation thereof to the
time that God honoured her with that title, when she was
like to be assaulted by Sanecherib King of the Assyrians,
she was never taken by the force of any forraine enemy)
kept her virginity untouched these thousand two hundred
415
CORY ATS CRUDITIES
Venice often an d twelve yeares (for so long it is since the foundation
thereof) though Emperors, Kings, Princes and mighty
Potentates, being allured with her glorious beauty, have
attempted to deflowre her, every one receiving the
repulse : a thing most wonderfull and strange. In which
respect she hath beene ever priviledged above all other
cities. For there is no principall citie of all Christendome
but hath been both oppugned and expugned since her
foundation : as Rome the Empresse and Queene of all
the west partes of the world, hath been often sacked, as
[p- 2 79 1 by Brennus, by Gensericus King of the Vandals, by Alari-
cus, Vitiges, Totylas, Kings of the Gothes, Odoacer the
Rugian, &c. and so every other notable citie both of Italy,
Germany, France, Spain, England, Poland, &c. hath beene
at some time or other conquered by the hostile force : onely
Venice, thrise-fortunate and thrise-blessed Venice, as if
she had beene founded by the very Gods themselves, and
daily received some divine and sacred influence from the
heaven for her safer protection, hath ever preserved her
selfe intactam, illibatam, sartam tectam, free from all
forraine invasions to this day ; though indeede she was
once very dangerously assaulted by Pipin King of Italy,
one of the sonnes of Charlemaine.
The form of Seeing I have related unto thee so many notable things
ment of this renowned City, as of her first foundation, situation,
name, the division thereof, her goodly Temples, Palaces,
Streets, Monasteries, Towers, Armouries, Monuments,
and memorable Antiquities, &c. I thinke thou wilt expect
this also from me, that I should discover unto thee her
forme of governement, and the meanes wherewith shee
both maintaineth her selfe in that glorious majesty, and
also ruleth those goodly cities, townes, and Citadels that
are subject to her dominion. If thou dost require this at
my hands (as I beleeve thou wilt) I would have thee con
sider that I am neither polititian, nor statist, but a private
man, and therefore I often thought to my selfe when I was
in Venice, that it would be a matter something impertinent
to me to prie into their governement, observe their lawes,
416
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
their matters of state, their customes, their courts of
justice, their judicious proceedings, their distributions of
offices, &c. seeing I should make but little use thereof
upon my returne into my country. Or were it so that I
had had a great desire to have informed my selfe with the
knowledge of the principall particularities of their
governement (which I must needes say had beene a most
laudable and excellent thing, especially in such a City as
hath the fame to be as well governed as any City upon the [p. 280.]
face of the whole earth ever was, or at this day is) yet to
attaine to an exact knowledge thereof in so short a space
as I spent there, over and above these my poore observa
tions which I have communicated unto thee, truely I
confesse I was not able. Therefore for as much as thou
mayest gather even by these my notes of Venice (which
are more 1 am sure then every English man can shew thee
out of sixe weekes aboade there) that 1 was not altogether
idle when I lay in the City : I hope thou wilt deigne to
pardon me, though I cannot answere thy expectation about
the governement thereof, especially because I will promise
thee (if God shall graciously prolong my life that I may
once more see it, which I earnestly wish and hope for) that
I will endevour to observe as much of their governement
as may be lawfull for a stranger, and so tandem aliquando
to impart the same unto thee with other observations of
my future travels, which perhaps will not be altogether
unworthy the reading. But because thou shalt not thinke
that I am utterly ignorant of al matters touching their
governement, I will give thee only a superficial touch, and
no more. This City was first governed by Tribunes and
Centurions for the space of three hundred yeares. But
afterward because it was much infested by the Longo-
bardes that inhabited Pavy, Milan, and other Cities not
farre from them, they thought it meete to create a Duke -A Duke
that should be the principall and supreme commander of created -
the whole City, and to arme him with authority to muster
up forces for their defence against any forraine invasion, if
occasion should require. Also they decreed that the same
c. c. 417 2 D
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
Duke should continue in his Ducall dignity during his
life, which decree hath ever since beene in force to this
day. Their first Dukes name was Panluccius Anafectus,
whom they chose about the yeare seven hundred, assign
ing him first the Towne of Heraclea, next Malomocco,
[p. 281.] and afterward the Rialto (where the Dukes made their
habitation for the space of many yeares till the Palace was
built) for the place of his residence. Since which time for
the space of nine hundred yeares they have been continu
ally ruled by Dukes ; the number of all which have beene
fourescore and eleven with their present Duke Leonardus
The Duke s Donatus. I could tell thee some notable ceremonies con
cerning the election of their Duke, but those I will differ
till my next observations of this City. Only I will impart
one unto thee which is this. As soone as the Duke is
proclaimed, he is carryed about St. Marks place in a chaire
upon certayne mens shoulders that are appointed for the
same purpose, and all the while he flings money about the
street for the poore to gather up. The Duke is not a
sovereigne Prince, to say sic volo, sic jubeo ; but his
authority is so curbed & restrained, that without the con
sent of the Councels he can neither establish nor abrogate
a law, nor doe any other matter whatsoever that belonges
to a Prince. So that the governement of this City is a
compounded forme of state, contayning in it an Idea of
the three principall governements of the auncient Athe
nians and Romans, namely the Moiiarchicall, the Oligar-
chicall, and Democraticall. The Duke sitteth at the sterne
of the commonweale with glorious ornaments beseeming
his place and dignity, adorned with a Diademe and other
ensignes of Principality, so that he seemeth to be a kinde
of Monarch ; yet there is that limitation of his power that
without the approbation of the Senate he cannot doe any
thing that carryeth a marke of Soveraignity. Next is the
The Council Councell of ten commonly called Consilio di dieci, which
were first instituted by way of imitation of the ancient
Roman Decemviri. These are as it were the maine
sinewes and strength of the whole Venetian Empire. For
418
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
they are the principall Lordes of the state that manage the
whole governement thereof, both by sea and land. This
Councell presenteth unto thee a singular forme of an Oli
garchy or Aristocratic. The last is the great Councell
which consisteth of a thousand and sixe hundred Gentle
men, who are likewise other subordinate members of the
State, and are a notable patterne of a Democratie. Al the
Magistrates of what degree soever, are chosen by lots after
an unusuall and strange manner. For there are three pots
placed upon the Dukes Tribunall seate, whereof two that
stand at both the endes of the seate containe a great
multitude of silver balles and a few golden ; the third
which standeth in the middle, silver and golden also : but
lesse then the other. Now all the officers are chosen
according as their lots doe fall upon them, by meanes of
these balles, which is disposed after such an admirable fine
manner, as the like kinde of election was never heard of
before in any governement or common-weale of the whole
world. The place of this election is the great Councell
hall, into the which at the election time a stranger shal be
very hardly admitted, but by some extraordinary favour.
One of the most honorable Magistrates of the whole city
is the Procurator of S. Marke, who enjoyeth his dignity
not for a yeare only as the Roman Consul did : but during
his life, as the Duke doth. Heretofore there was but one
in the whole city that bare that office, but afterwards there
were sixe more adjoyned unto him as his copartners, being
chosen out of the sixe tribes of the City : but there are of
them at this day no less then foure and twenty. This
office is of so high esteeme in Venice, that there is scarce
any Duke chosen which hath not beene first Procurator of
St. Marke. I have now given thee a little tast of the
forme of the Cities governement. I will also somewhat
compendiously touch that of the land Cities that are sub
ject to them. Every land City hath foure principal
Magistrates assigned to it, whereof the chiefest is the
Praetor alias the Podesta, who doth sit upon matters of life
and death, and pronounceth the definitive sentence of
419
[p. 282.]
The great
Council.
The Pro
curator of S.
Mark.
Four
principal
Magistrates.
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
[p. 283.] condemnation upon the offenders. The second is the
Praefectus, otherwise called the Capitano, that is, the
general Captaine over all their forces both in the City, and
abroad in the country, not farre from the City. These two
Magistrates are the principall to whom all the other inferior
officers are subject. The third is the Treasurer, who
receiveth the publique money, payeth it to the Souldiers,
and registreth all both receipts and expenses. But he is
so subject to the authority of the Praefectus, that he can
do nothing without him. The fourth and the last is the
Lieutenant of the Castle. His office is to looke to the
Souldiers that are in garrison, and to take charge of the
weapons, artillery, and all kinde of munition belonging to
the same. He likewise is as farre forth subject to the
Praefectus as the Treasurer. If they have any warres by
land, they make a stranger the General of their army, and
never one of their owne Gentlemen. Of those forraine
Captaines two above the rest have beene very renowned
and fortunate warriours, whose memory is much celebrated
amongst the Venetians, namely Gattamelita of Narnia, of
whom I have spoken in my Treatise of Padua, and Bar-
thelmew Coleon of Bergomo, unto whom there is an
honorable equestriall statue erected in a publique place of
this City, as I have before mentioned.
The Dominion I will also give thee a little intimation of the principal
of Venice. places of their Dominion both by sea and land : In the
territory of Lombardy they have seven stately Cities, in
five whereof I my selfe have beene, and have already
described one of them, and so wil hereafter the other
foure. The names of them are these : Padua, Vicenza,
Verona, Brixia, Bergomo, Crema, Tarvisium commonly
called Trevisa, besides many other inferiour Townes and
Castles. Amongst the rest that of Palma in Forum Julii
is a most inexpugnable fortresse, and contrived with such a
rare round forme of building, consisting of two degrees
of workemanship, whereof each containeth nine severall
[p. 284.] and distinct bulwarks, that I have heard there is not the
like to be found in all Christendome. This was built in
420
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
the yeare 1593, when Pascalis Ciconia was Duke. In
Sclavonia which was heretofore called Illyricum, they have
the two Cities of Zara and Zebenico : in Istria and
Dalmatia, goodly Cities also. In the Sea they have the
Island of Creta, now called Candia, standing in the
Mediterranean Sea ; And of Corcyra in the Ionian Sea,
now called Corfu. Likewise they were for many yeares
since Lords of Constantinople before the Turks tooke
possession thereof. And for the space of many yeares
they possessed the noble island of Cyprus, situate also in
the Mediterran Sea. But Munster in the second booke of
his Cosmographie writeth that they got it by very lewd
and indirect meanes, unto whom I will referre thee for the
history, because it is something long for me to relate unto
thee. Therefore the example of the Venetians doth very
well verifie the old speech of Salust, male parta male dila-
buntur. For they were expelled againe out of it by the
Turkes An. 1571. At what time those barbarous enemies
of the Christian name shewed most execrable cruelty upon
them in the Capitall city of the island called Famagusta
heretofore Salamis, that valiant Venetian Gentleman
Antonius Bragedinus (whose Epitaph I have before written
in my description of the Church of St. John and Paul)
being then flea d alive amongst them. All these ample
territories both by sea and land doe yeeld them such an
exceeding great revenue by the yeare, as doth amount to A S reat
foure millions (as I have heard) of Duckats. Which is rev
very neare a million of our English pounds. A most
stupendious summe of money, if it were possible for a
man to see it altogether in the Venetian nine penny peeces
called livers. The greatest part of this money is raised by
extreme exactions and impositions that they lay upon their
subjects, but especially for wine and salt. Thus have I as
briefly as I can discovered unto thee some small part of [p. 285.]
their governement both in the city of Venice, and the other
cities of their Signiory ; and also related some principall
particulars of their famous Empire both by sea and land,
together with the revenues thereof.
421
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
The Venetian It will not be amisse to speake something also of the
ioney. money of Venice, though I have not done the like of any
other country besides. And the rather I am induced to
mention it, because I will take occasion to touch one thing
in this discourse of their coines, that perhaps may be a little
beneficiall unto some that intend hereafter to travell to
Venice. There are sundry coines both of gold & silver
allowed in the city of Venice, besides their owne stampe ;
as the French crownes : the single and double duckats
which are the Emperors coine ; single and double pistolets
of Spaine : The Hungarian gold which they call Hungars :
The Popes gold : The Dutch dollars, &c. But I saw none
of our English there : or if there be any, there is losse by
it whether it be gold or silver. Most of their owne coines
One gold coin, that I saw were these. In gold but one, which is their
chiquiney : This piece doth much vary in the value. For
sometimes it is high, sometimes low. When I was there,
a chiquiney was worth eleven livers and twelve sols.
Which countervailed eight shillings and eight pence half
penny of our money. W r ith us in England it is seldome
Silver coins, worth above seven shillings. Of their silver coines they
have these two pieces only. The greatest is the ducka-
toone, which containeth eight livers, that is, sixe shillings.
This piece hath in one side the effigies of the Duke of
Venice and the Patriarch, holding a staffe between them
stamped thereon, with the Dukes name. And in the
other, the figure of St. Justina a chast Patavine virgin, of
whom I have before spoken in my tract of Padua. And
in the same side is written this inscription, Memor ero tui
Justina Virgo. The occasion of which inscription I have
signified in my notes of Padua. The other is a double
[p. 286.] liver which is eighteene pence. Also they have sixe coines
Coins of brass mO re which are partly brasse and partly tinne. First the
liver which is nine pence : Then the halfe liver foure pence
halfe penny, both these are brasse. The tinne coynes are
these foure ; a piece of four gazets, which is about three
pence and three farthings. A gazet : this is almost a
penny : whereof ten doe make a liver, that is nine pence ;
422
and tin.
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
a sol : this is almost a halfe penny. For twenty of them
doe make a liver. The last and least is the betsa, which is
halfe a sol ; that is almost a farthing. Now whereas the
Venetian duckat is much spoken of, you must consider
that this word duckat doth not signifie any one certaine
coyne. But many severall pieces doe concurre to make
one duckat, namely sixe livers and two gazets, which doe
countervaile foure shillings and eight pence of our money.
So that a duckat is sometimes more, sometimes lesse. The
chiquiney that I first named of the Venetian coynes, and
these other eight, partly silver, partly brasse, and partly
tinne, are the currantest money of all both in Venice it
selfe, and in the whole Venetian Signiory. But that which
is most principally current above all the rest, is the liver.
Which is therefore called in Venice moneta de banco, that
is, the money of the exchange. Therefore I would Coun- Go0 ^ cou sel
sell thee whatsoever thou art that intendest to travell into
Italy, and to returne thy money in England by bill of
exchange that thou maiest receive it againe in Venice ; I
would counsell thee (I say) so to compound with thy mer
chant, that thou maiest be paide all thy money in the
exchange coyne, which is this brasse peece called the Liver.
For otherwise thou wilt incurre an inconvenience by
receiving it in peeces of gold of sundry coines, according
to the pleasure of the Merchant that payeth thee in Venice.
Because if thou shouldest happen to make thy aboade in
Venice for some pretty long space to thy great charge,
whensoever thou shalt have occasion to buy a litle com-
moditie of some small valew, thou wilt sustaine losse by [p- 287.]
thy gold, but not by thy Livers. For every man will take
thy Livers without any losse to thee, but none thy gold
without some advantage to themselves, and damage to
thee, except thou dost buy a commoditie of some valew.
For thou shalt not find that kindnesse in Venice to have
thy gold changed gratis into small currant peeces of the
citie. as in England. Also there is another great incon- ,. ,
. & . . -111 Light gold ft
vemence in receiving returned money in gold, because banished CM -
sometimes all light gold is bandited ; that is, banished out of the city.
423
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
of the Citie ; a tricke of state used often amongst the
Venetians, by which they do very much inrich their trea
sure, and a thing that hapned when I was there, to my
great prejudice. If after this banditing of the light gold
(which is done by a solemne Proclamation at Saint Markes
place and the Rialto) all thy stocke of money that thou hast
in Venice, doth consist of diffrent peeces of gold, and the
same light, thou wilt be much damnified and driven to
these extremes : either to forfeite thy light peeces to the
state, and that ipso facto, whensoever thou dost offer them
abroad in the citie for any thing thou wouldest buy ; or
to exchange them for weighty gold with the f bankers or
money-changers of S. Marks, before thou canst put them
away ; and that will redound to thy damage, for they will
bee well paide for the exchange. These inconveniences I
have tasted my selfe, only for taking light gold of my
Merchant in steed of Liver money : so that I speake by
mine owne experience. Therefore I end this matter
touching their money with counselling thee whatsoever
thou art that meanest to returne money out of England
for Venice, to receive thy whole summe in Livers.
Great variety There is a great variety of Wines in Venice, but
nothing so much as in Rome, Naples, Milan, Florence, and
other Italian cities, the greater part of them beeing brought
thither from the territories of Padua : But they are much
[p. 288.] dearer here then in the other cities of Italy, as well those
that are in the Signiorie, as those without the same. For
the Venetians lay such an extreme impost upon them, that
they as much oppresse their subjects therewith, as the
states of the Netherlands doe those under their dominion
with their excize : howbeit they are not altogether so dear,
but that a moderate and competent drinker may buy as
much of their meaner red Wine in one of their Magazines,
that is, cellars, for his sol, which is a little lesse then our
halfe penny, as will serve for a reasonable draught. Some
of these wines are singular good, as their Liatico, which is
f These are called in Greeke rpairf^irai, in Latin Collybistae and
nummularii.
424
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
a very cordiall and generose liquor : their Romania, their
Muscadine, and their Lagryme di Christo ; which is so
toothsome and delectable to the taste, that a certaine
stranger being newly come to the citie, and tasting of this
pleasant wine, was so affected therewith, that I heard he
uttered this speech out of a passionate humour : O Domine
Domine, cur non kchrymasti in regionibus nostris? that
is, O Lord O Lord, why hast thou not distilled these kinde
of teares into our countries ? These wines are alwayes The wine
brought up into the roome wherein the ghests doe make &
their meale, in certaine great glasses called Ingistera es that
are commonly used in all those Cities of Italy that I
surveied in my journey. Out of which glasse the servants
that attend at table, doe use to poure their wine into lesser
glasses, and so to deliver them to the ghests. This word
Ingistera I therefore name, because the etymologic of it is
very pretty : for it called Ingistera quasi ey yacrrepa (as my
learned friend that famous traveller and elegant linguist
Master Hugh Holland hath lately told me) that is, a thing
formed in the fashion of a belly, the Greek word yacmip
signifying a belly : for the middle part of it doth truly
represent the shape of a bellie.
That day that I came forth of Venice I observed a thing
which did even tickle my senses with great joy and com
fort ; for on the right hand of the second walke of Saint [p- 289.]
Markes place, as you goe betwixt the clocke and the two
great pillars by the sea side, even in the outward wall of
the Dukes Pallace, and within that faire walke that is
supported with pillars, I saw the pictures of certaine
famous Kings, and other great personages, and our King King James
James his picture in the very midst of them, as being the
worthiest person of them al. The pictures were these :
One of the present King of Spaine, Philip the second :
One of the King of France, Henry the fourth : One of
the last Duke of Venice, Marino Grimanno : and one of
a certaine noble woman whose name no body could tell me.
And in the very middle our Kings picture, which I think
was placed there not without great consideration ; for I
425
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
beleeve they remembred the old speech when they hanged
up his picture : In medio consistit virtus. Againe the
same day I sawe his picture very gallantly advanced in
another place of the citie, even at the Rialto bridge, with
Queene Anne and Prince Henry on one side of him, and
the King of France on the other ; a thing that ministred
singular contentment unto me.
Having now so amply declared unto thee most of the
principall things of this thrise-renowned and illustrious
citie, I will briefly by way of an Epitome mention most of
the other particulars thereof, and so finally shut up this
An Epitome narration : There are reported to be in Venice and the
circumjacent f islands two hundred Churches in which
are one hundred forty three paire of Organs, fifty foure
Monasteries, twenty sixe Nunneries, fifty sixe Tribunals
or places of judgement, seventeene Hospitals, sixe Com
panies or Fraternities, whereof I have before spoken ; one
hundred sixty five marble statues of worthy personages,
partly equestriall, partly pedestriall, which are erected in
sundry places of the citie, to the honour of those that
eyther at home have prudently administred the Common-
weale, or abroad valiantly fought for the same. Likewise
[p. 290.] of brasse there are twenty three, whereof one is that of
Bartholomew Coleon before mentioned. Also there are
twentie seven publique clocks, ten brasen gates, a hundred
and fourteene Towers for bels to hang in, ten brasen
horses, one hundred fifty five wells for the common use of
the citizens, one hundred eighty five most delectable
gardens, ten thousand Gondolaes, foure hundred and fifty
bridges partly stony, partly timber, one hundred and
twenty Palaces, whereof one hundred are very worthy of
Five hundred that name, one hundred seventy foure courts : and the totall
thousand sou s, ^^T^^ o f SO ules living in the citie and about the same is
thought to be about five hundred thousand, something
more or lesse. For sometimes there is a catalogue made
of all the persons in the citie of what sexe or age soever
f Which are in number twenty five.
426
OBSERVATIONS OF VENICE
they be ; as we may reade there was heretofore in Rome
in the time of Augustus Caesar : and at the last view there
were found in the whole city as many as I have before
spoken.
Thus have I related unto thee as many notable matters
of this noble citie, as either I could see with mine eyes, or
heare from the report of credible and worthy persons, or
derive from the monuments of learned and authenticke
writers that I found in the citie ; hoping that divers large
circumstances which I have inserted into this history, will
not be unpleasant unto thee, because many of them doe
tend to the better illustration of some things, whose glory
would have beene even eclipsed if I had not inlarged the
same with these amplifications ; and so at length I finish
the treatise of this incomparable city, this most beautifull
Queene, this untainted virgine, this Paradise, this Tempe,
this rich Diademe and most flourishing garland of Chris-
tendome : of which the inhabitants may as proudly vaunt, Venue the gem
as I have reade the Persians have done of their Ormus,who f the world -
say that if the world were a ring, then should Ormus be
the gem me thereof : the same (I say) may the Venetians
speake of their citie, and much more truely. The sight
whereof hath yeelded unto me such infinite and unspeak- [p. 291.]
able contentment (I must needes confesse) that even as
Albertus Marquesse of Guasto said (as I have before
spoken) were he put to his choice to be Lord of foure of
the fairest cities of Italy, or the Arsenall of Venice, he
would prefer the Arsenall : In like maner I say, that had
there bin an offer made unto me before I took my journey
to Venice, eyther that foure of the richest manners of
Somerset-shire (wherein I was borne) should be gratis
bestowed upon me if I never saw Venice, or neither of
them if I should see it ; although certainly those mannors
would do me much more good in respect of a state of
livelyhood to live in the world, then the sight of Venice :
yet notwithstanding I will ever say while I live, that the
sight of Venice and her resplendent beauty, antiquities,
and monuments, hath by many degrees more contented
427
CORYAT S CRUDITIES
my minde, and satisfied my desires, then those foure Lord-
shippes could possibly have done.
Thus much of the glorious citie of Venice.
END OF VOLUME I.